Crimson Madness
by kdthree
Summary: The Vampire Goa'uld Camazotz, is back and plans to make Jack her mate. Sequel to Dark Embrace
1. Default Chapter

The Klaxons went off and the red lights came on. Walter, the gate technician, was immediately at the keyboard double-checking on the integrity of the iris.

"Off world activation," he announced with a hint of anxiety. They didn't know who would be coming through; friend, foe, a returning team, or attack from an old enemy. Walter didn't even have to turn around; he knew the footsteps behind him belonged to General George Hammond and the light step was their CMO, Major Janet Fraiser.

"Receiving IDC now, General. It's the To'kra." There was a collective sigh of relief from all in the control room.

"Open the iris." Hammond didn't have to give the command. Walter had his fingers poised and ready and the iris seemed to begin to open as he finished the sentence.

Jacob Carter/Selmak appeared to run through the event horizon, his eyes intent on the control room making immediate contact with Hammond. The look on his face and the body language was not that of a father coming to visit his daughter, Major Samantha Carter. This was a man on a mission with bad news.

Before Hammond could make it out the control room Jacob had bounded in and was motioning towards the conference room on the next level. "George, we've got to talk."

Hammond followed him up the stairs.

"Where is SG1?" It was Selmak and not Jacob who was asking but both were out of breath.

Hammond motioned for his old friend and symbiote(?) to take a seat at the table. He knew it had to be critical if Selmak was taking stage-front on this one.

"General, where is SG1?" The question was repeated with greater urgency.

"SG1 is off-world on P3x666. They are not due back for two more days. What is all this about, Selmak? "

"It is the Goa'uld, Camazotz. She has been in contact with the System Lords, and to gain their good graces again, she has pledged to hunt down and capture or kill SG1. "

"And?" Hammond knew there was an 'and'. Hearing that name again, Camazotz, the Goa'uld who had nearly killed Jack send a chill around his heart. Jack had descended into darkness and had almost been irretrievable.

Selmak dipped his head and Jacob Carter took over.

"Jacob, tell me what is going on?" This was a demand.

"Camazotz has pledged to kill or make prisoners of SG1 and is going to make Jack a host and her mate. George, we can't let that happen. Camazotz is reputed to be a Queen Goa'uld. She mates with Jack and makes little snakes, they will have his DNA and possibly his memories."

"Jacob, you know they know the risks. Every member of the team knows the death sentence the Goa'uld have on their heads."

"This is different, George. She wants to make them host and bring Teal'c back as the Shol'va. She has been hunting them for months now."

"How do you know all of this?" It was Hammond pressed.

"We have an operative inside the System Lords. We think we know where Camazotz is, where she is gathering her forces. She has already collected quite a few Jaffa to her. They say she is very persuasive." Jacob was still not saying all he had to say or was coloring it.

Hammond looked at his friend, and cocked his head to the side searching Jacob's eyes. The look was of agony, fear, and hate was to be seen there and the old warrior was not clouding them in respect of their friendship.

"Camazotz is going to stop at nothing to find Jack."

"He'll never stand to be sidelined because of her threat Jacob, you know that."

The Klaxons began to sound again and Walter announced over the P.A. system of an unscheduled incoming traveler.

Jacob and George rushed to the control room.

"SG1. They're under fire with injuries per Dr. Jackson." Walter announced opening up the iris.

Daniel was the first one out, he rolled down the ramp, a staff weapon blast to one thigh; behind him at a full run was Teal'c and Sam. Staff blasts shot through the wormhole. One lucky blast took out one of the S.F.'s.

His throat nearly closed but he had to call out the order. "Close the Iris." He and Jacob rushed down the stairs to the gate room.

"Where is O'Neill?" It was Selmak who demanded the answer from a dazed and wounded Teal'c.

"They came out of nowhere, dad." Sam sobbed against Teal'c as they both slumped down in a heap of wounds.

"O'Neill ordered us to dial the gate. He laid down cover fire. He was struck at least once, perhaps twice. "Tears poured freely from Teal'c eyes.

"We have to go back." Daniel gasped as the medical team began to check him over.

The wormhole disengaged.

"He's dead. I saw it. He couldn't... survive after two hits..." Sam was crying and shaking as she was going into shock herself.

"The armor - what Goa'uld was it?" Selmak grabbed Teal'c by the shoulders.

"Black armor with the image of a fanged bat."

▬p p p p p▬

His team had made it. He watched Teal'c half carry Sam through. Good. He spun around and pulled the trigger of his P-90 back hard and long for as long as he could. The second staff blast hit him directly in the chest. Jack knew he had only a moment of life left. He was falling backwards, finger still on the trigger of a gun that had gone empty just like him. His last vision was of two Jaffa leaning over him, their armor flat black, and the sound of a ring transporter. As everything turned to gray he felt a gentle hand on his face.

"I told you, you would always be mine."

Jack looked into the glowing eyes of Camazotz and felt his last breath leave his lungs but knew this death was not going to be final.

▬p p p p p▬

"I need them all in the infirmary." Janet began to coordinate the triage. All were in shock; all three had some kind of injury. She had seen this before, but it had been Daniel they thought they had left behind dead. Her medical team assisted the three off and she stayed behind for only a moment.

"General, where's the Colonel?"

"He didn't make it back." Hammond somehow managed to choke the words out.

"O'Neill may have been taken by the Goa'uld, Camazotz." Jacob looked at her and watched her turn pale, but it was Hammond who was beginning to sweat in anxiety. He was remembering how Jack had been sitting on his roof with a bottle of booze and a loaded sidearm trying to decide which one to use after the Colonel's last encounter with the Goa'uld.

"I want SG3 geared up and ready to go. Doctor, I want SG1 to tell me what happened. " Hammond practically pushed Janet towards the infirmary.

A few corridors later, Hammond was standing next to Teal'c's bed. "Son, you have to tell me what happened."

"General, we were barely a kilometer from the gate when we were attacked. O'Neill told us to lay down cover fire. I do not believe it was an ambush but that was an unfortunate coincidence. The Jaffa seemed as unprepared at our meeting as were we. There were at least thirty. It was wise for us to retreat. " Teal'c began the tale. He glanced at Carter and Daniel both were curled up on medical exam tables, useless and in shock. "We must go back for him, for them." Teal'c inclined his head towards Daniel and Carter.

Hammond wanted to agree but he was not sending these three anywhere. "We have SG3 ready to go. I am going to open the wormhole and see what we can get from the MALP. If Dr. Fraiser releases you, come up to the control room." Hammond knew that Teal'c was hurting equally to his comrades but, being a Jaffa and more of a warrior, he knew that there were consequences in the chosen profession, inherent dangers.

"He is my brother. I can not leave him behind." Teal'c's face was blank but tears flowed in free rivers down his cheeks

The loss of O'Neill would be too great, the program could continue on but it would never recover and Hammond was damned if he was going to lose one of the finest men he had ever had the privilege to knock heads with to some glowing eyed bitch.

Jacob was beside his daughter comforting her, while at the same time he was hearing the urgent demands of his symbiote. O'Neill must not be allowed to fall into enemy hands. It was better he die than become a host. Jack would understand and demand as much. He tore himself away from a wounded daughter to go with Hammond.

"Dial up P3x666 and see if we are getting signals from the MALP." Hammond ordered Walter who complied immediately. SG3 was waiting looking expectantly up at the control room.

Bandaged and battered SG1 limped into the control followed by a furious CMO.

The first image from the MALP showed two Jaffa bodies their armor was black and the helmets were the stylized head of a bat. The ground was saturated with blood and shell casings. Hammond stared at the monitors and his heart sank. The amount of shell casings and blood, Jack had not gone down without a fight, but was he dead? Alive? Lost to them? Something caught Hammond's eye.

"Can you zoom in there?" He asked pointing to a spot on the screen.

Walter began to toggle the controls focusing on the point of Hammond's interest.

"Oh g-d." Carter gasped as the screen was filled with the object. Blood soaked and discarded, an O.D. green baseball cap lay abandoned on the limestone path a few yards from the gate. Tears burned her blue eyes.

They made it through the gate; his team was safe so when the third staff blast tore into his chest, Jack was able to accept death. His team was safe. He was dead. Not the best day but he could live, make that die, with that thought.

But he was not going to die, he had not died. Instead, he felt the light around him and the power before he could see it. The sensation had a familiarity to it. The flatness, being enclosed, his eyes were open but only in thin slits, enough to let him know he was inside of a Goa'uld sarcophagus. The lid separated and began to slide open. Still too weak too move, he felt himself pulled roughly to his feet and then dragged on his knees.

Jack began a quick inventory. Oh of course, no weapons, belt, and socks had been taken. He had been left in his pants and black t-shirt. He forced his eyes open more as strength began to return. The hallways were lit only with burning braziers casting shadows of flames against the walls. There was an under note to the smoke laced air, a stench he recognized from battlefields to infirmaries, blood, decaying flesh and death the perfume of his captor.

The Jaffa drug him to a waiting chamber. In the middle were two columns with large rings embedded in each. Shackles hung from them and it was obvious that he would be spread between the two at some point. There was a raised platform with more restraints built in. So with a couple of throw rugs and a potted plant in one corner and a big screen TV this was going to be home, a real fixer upper.

The Jaffa pinioned Jack between the two columns as he had figured they would. Once he was secured they stood off to the side and faced the doorway. The sound of more Jaffa boots and armor could be heard approaching. The door slid open and the escort of Jaffa stood to one side. Camazotz stepped forward and stood in front of Jack. Her body was encased in sheer black gossamer, belted at her hips. The buckle was a plate-sized golden face of a fanged bat, which covered her most private of areas. A necklace of golden skulls covered her full breasts, Her blonde hair seemed even longer and licked her knees. But it was the face that was the hardest to view. Though he knew better, the face of his enemy was the face of Samantha Carter, his beautiful Sam, his Carter. Her eyes glowed white and she smiled revealing her pearl white teeth and two yellowed fangs.

Camazotz ran a long razor sharp nailed hand over Jack's face and traced the square shape of his jaw, her thumb judging the depth of the cleft. He was handsome, even her host felt the attraction. She reached up and let her tongue trace the outline of his lips.

Jack tried to move away but a Jaffa held his head in place. Her tongue on his lips, soft, wet and hot, blatant in the sexual overtones.

"You will want me, need me and desire me my beloved. I will have nothing else." Camazotz whispered in his ear, nipping gently with her fangs. She could feel his pulse quicken as she kissed his neck. For now it was out of rage, but soon it would change and his pulse would quicken with the mere thought of her. Her fangs sank slowly and deftly into the flesh of his strong-corded neck. She let the blood begin to seep from his wounds. Jack had been unable to withhold a gasp of pain.

"I'll die first." Jack gasped. The sensation of her tongue on his throat maddening.

"Oh, you will die many times my beloved, and each time I will revive you." Camazotz smiled against Jack's bleeding neck. It was true, for each time Jack died, he would be taken to the sarcophagus to be revived, each time his resistance to her reduced. The nanocytes from her blood stream would expand exponentially with each exposure to the insidious device, taking more control of him each time, changing him. .

He could fight all he wanted and play the strong warrior, but the combination of her nanocytes and the effects of the sarcophagus would be even too much for the great Tauri O'Neill to combat. It would take time and that was something she had great quantities of.

"Resistance is futile, my pet. You will be my mate." Camazotz ran a hand over Jack's chest and pressed her palm over the spot where she could feel his strong heart beating.

"Now where have I heard that before? No, really, where have I heard that before?" Jack smart- assed. It was lost on the Goa'uld who had a different agenda. She brought her right wrist up to Jack's lips. She let him feel the softness of her skin before she brought her wrist back to her mouth. This time it was her own fangs that bit into her flesh. The blood began to flow immediately.

Jack knew what was going to happen next he expected her to press her wrist to his mouth, he could fight that. But he was wrong. Camazotz sucked on her own wrist and then began to suck on his neck. With a mouth full of blood, she pressed her lips to his.

His lips parted and her eager tongue buried itself in his mouth, bringing with it the commingled blood. Jack tried to resist, to bite her tongue but a Jaffa pulled his head back. The damage was already done. The blood slipped down his throat before he could retch it back up.

Camazotz mouth was back on his neck and she was feeding, lapping up his blood, swallowing like someone dying of thirst. A deep purple veil began to descend over his vision. The blood hit his empty stomach and he spasmed in agony.

His attacker took a step back so Jack could see her as she delicately wiped the blood from her lips and licked each finger clean. A blinding white pain hit Jack's head as the nanocytes began to invade his blood stream. He passed out as Camazotz turned and left his cell.

"When he awakes, give him twenty lashes. I want to see skin flayed from his back." Camazotz ordered heading for her personal chambers. The Tauri tasted even better this time and she was going to enjoy every drop of his blood each time she killed him.

▬p p p p p▬

"Okay, people, what do we do to get Colonel O'Neill back?" Hammond looked around the table at SG1, Jacob Carter, and Dr. Janet Fraiser. The collected minds had been able to figure out way to save the universe before he needed them to do it again. As much as he admired, respected and felt fatherly towards Jack O'Neill the man, his primary concern was that one of his officers was in the hands of the enemy and could possible be compromised and thus compromise the program.

"This might be out of left field, General, but Camazotz thinks or behaves like a Vampire." Daniel was starting a line of reasoning that had their attention. "She was on P3x666 for several centuries. The inhabitants know her habits as well as anyone."

"He's right, George; Camazotz has been off the system lords' radar for that long if not longer. Her appetites are even a little off for the Goa'uld to take. Even though she is trying to get back in their good graces, they have no idea where she is holed up. We, the Tokra, have a line on her but have been unable to get into her inner circle. She'll know us for what we are. Besides we have only been observing her."

"Then we have to go back to the planet where we found her, where she captured the Colonel. It's worth a shot, at least a jumping off point. " Sam piped in.

"Are these three up to it?" Hammond asked Fraiser who had been fidgeting with her pen apprehensively through the entire conversations.

"Does it matter?" She snapped then took a deep breath, "They can travel, and their wounds were minor. I don't see how we could stop them." She finished muttering under her breath, and then her head jerked up. "Sir, based on what we know and what has happened to the Colonel before, if a mission is undertaken to retrieve the Colonel, I request a medical team go too."

"Volunteering, Doctor?" Hammond smiled. "SG1, you have a go. Find out what you can report back. Jacob?"

"I will see if i can get the keys to a cargo ship. We aren't going to be able to just gate in. I will contact you, George, and arrange a rendezvous. "

"We should waste no time," Teal'c had already risen from the table.

"SG3 is going with you. Be ready to ship out in one hour." Hammond ordered.

"We'll be ready before that." Daniel was a step behind the exiting Teal'c.

"Doctor, you and one other get what ever you need together."

Janet gulped suddenly realizing what she had gotten herself into. Well, CJ was just going to have to report early. She needed her best triage nurse with her and C.J. had been Jack's personal watchdog through the last episode.

One hour later SG1, Janet, and C J, who teased in her morbid black humor about getting to go on a field trip, walked through the wormhole traveling to P3x666.

▬p p p p p▬

When the Stargate became engaged on P3x666, Ivanyn was immediately notified. The sun was setting and soon the twin moons would rise. It was a beautiful night for visitors. It had been quite some time since the gate had opened and it could only be the strangers from the other world who had freed them of the dark creature.

Daniel was one of the first through and was surprised that Ivanyn would be there to greet them so casually especially with the sun setting. The abnormal fear that the Rusno had of the night, which had been exhibited on the prior visits, seemed no longer present.

"Ivanyn! Greetings." Daniel tried to make it light, but with the four Marines of SG3, and Sam and Teal'c's looks, it was clear this was not a social visit. CJay and Janet came through last and stood gaping at the village that sprawled out in front of them. It appeared to be out of a movie set and Frankenstein or the Wolf man could be lurking around any corner. They were closer than they knew.

"Daniel Jackson, Samantha Carter, and Teal'c, greetings. Come, you must dine with us and bring your friends. We have much to speak of. Where is the silver haired one, your O'Neill? Please tell me he is well? " Ivanyn was concerned as he began to lead the Stargate personnel towards his Inn/residence.

The nine were immediately set down at a large table and platters of food set out before them. Ivanyn had his wife preparing rooms for his new guests.

"Ivanyn these people with us are here because..." Sam tried to start but the words choked her.

"It is O'Neill. The Goa'uld who had enslaved your planet, she has once again captured him. She hunted him." Teal'c stated with bitter simplicity.

"We thought that maybe if we talked to you about the time that she, Camazotz, was here on your planet that we might get a better idea of how to hunt her and get our friend back."

"This is most distressful." Ivanyn looked at the group. "I will help as much I can for I am the keeper of the Knowledge, the Provider."

"What do you mean _Provider_?" It was Janet who asked as she noticed the marks on his neck. There were several and they seemed similar to the ones she had found on the Colonel's throat.

"What he means, is he _provides _to my people. It is only a ceremonial duty, a show of faith and the pact from the very first days we came to be here on this world." The voice came from the shadow of the open door way. It was a full baritone, reassuring, pleasing and almost comforting.

The Marines seemed to stop in mid- reach to their weapons. Sam, Janet, and CJ felt as if the heat had been turned up in the room, the voice was so masculine and sultry. There was an intake of breath from the three women as the man stepped into the soft fireplace glow of the living room.

He stood perhaps two to three inches over six feet. His skin was alabaster and his hair flowed over broad shoulders was as sea of burnished cooper. But it was his eyes that claimed all attention, for they were burgundy in color and seemed to glow as if they were absorbing the light from open flames of the fireplace. The stranger was neither young nor old, but devastatingly handsome with his square jaw high cheekbones, full lips, and strong Roman nose. The tunic he wore revealed a great expanse of his chest. The material seemed to be made from the very gray shadows from which he materialized. The matching breeches strained to confine the supple yet well-defined muscles of his body.

"I am Yurik of the Obyri. We owe a great debt to the silver haired warrior, " His voice curled around the women like a lover's arms. He smiled broadly revealing elongated canines. "Is he not with you?"

"You're a. ... A real... " Daniel stammered with the sudden realization.

"Yurik is the leader of the Wampyr." Ivanyn finished Daniel's statement.

▬p p p p p▬

Jack awoke. The muscles in his arms were on fire from the strain of holding his body upright. Camazotz had drunk her fill again and weakened him physically. His mind was fogged with thoughts of her, trying to think past visions of her voluptuous body. He focused on the pain to gather his wits. The Jaffa noticed his movements and called for another. The newly arrived Jaffa wore only black and had the body of a WWE wrestler. In his meaty paws were two devices that were easily recognizable, a torture stick, and what appeared to be a cat o'nine tails.

The pain stick was used first. Even at his strongest Jack could not suppress the cries of pain. The Jaffa must have thought he needed to be softened up. The crack of the whip was something he remembered; Iraqis had used the same little toy on him. The leather brought welts to his skin even through the material of his t-shirt but the small metal spikes on the end of several of the straps tore his skin open. What little blood he had left began to seep out of the new wounds. Jack thrashed violently and heard his left wrist snap.

Camazotz had arrived unnoticed and was leaning against the doorway watching the whipping.

"Kree!" She called out as the twentieth blow landed.

There was barely any consciousness left, his head hung on his chest, and his legs had folded like a newspaper. Camazotz stepped around him and tore what was left of his shirt from him pulling with it any loose skin or clotted blood. Through the crimson veil of pain, Jack felt her tongue begin to lick his wounds, wounds she had ordered. Her tongue left his back and proceeded to his shoulder, so sensually laving him. The touch of her succulent lips seemed to ease the pain in his arms as if she could lick the pain awayCamazotz eased her body around his, slowly encircling him with her arms. Jack watched her bring her wrist to her mouth. This time, instead of forcing him to taste her blood, she began to smear it into his wounds.

"Forever mine." She began to chant to him, her breath warm on his neck.

Even Jack knew that she was introducing her blood into his blood stream. After a few moments of this, she began to lick the wound she had made earlier in his throat. Her fangs made quick work of the flesh, his blood began to flow again. This time Jack could feel his heart beating harder and harder to circulate what little blood was left in him. Life was coming to another end; Camazotz gave him death with a passionate kiss.

▬p p p p p▬

"There is no such thing as a Vampire!" Major Lawrence snapped looking at the handsome stranger in Ivanyn's home.

"Major, why don't you and your men go check on the sleeping arrangement and let us discuss this." It was Daniel who was speaking again but still staring at the newcomer.

The man, vampire, or specter moved in total silence as he sat down at the long table next to Ivanyn. Beside him sat Janet who was eyeing him with more than a clinical appraisal. All three of the women were flushed and breathing a little more rapidly. Daniel had to admit the man was handsome. No, that was unfair and inadequate; the man was beautiful and overwhelming. It reminded him, uncomfortably, of the effect Hathor had on him and the men of the SGC.

"Ivanyn has told me what he has come to know of you who have walked through the ring of shimmering water. Both of our people were brought to this world millennium ago. There were few of my people at the time." Yurik began talking Janet's hand and kissing the inside of her wrist on the pulse point of the cephalic vein.

"Our people were enemies at first but we came to an understanding. We raise cattle for both us and the needs of the Obyri. They protected us and we them." Ivanyn began to explain pouring drinks for all of his quests but Yurik. He made quick introductions all away around.

"So you have a sort of symbiotic relationship, well, without the symbiote." Carter was slipping into scientist mode and it was allowing her to free herself somewhat for the spell that Yurik seemed to weave.

"Do you live solely on blood?" Janet pulled her hand away; she could feel sweat trickling down the back of her BDU's.

"You are the healer? And this one with the golden curls - she, too, was here when the silver haired warrior escaped. Where is he? Did he survive?" Yurik's tone was becoming more adamant.

"We were just telling Ivanyn that is why we are back. The creature that was here, Camazotz, she has the silver haired, I mean Colonel Jack O'Neill. He is a leader of our people and a great warrior." Daniel had snapped out of the spell once again thinking of Jack. "We have reason to believe she has captured him again."

"She took him because he was the strongest of you. He was the greatest threat. It was her way. It is not ours. Her presence here made it impossible for the Obyri to live as we once had with our Rusno brethren. She killed many of us. " He paused and looked into the souls of SG1 with his deep burgundy eyes. Their hearts were pure, their cause righteous. "What may we do to help you destroy her and free the Warrior O'Neill?"

"We have been fighting the Goa'uld for some time now, and we find they are very hard to kill and there always seems to be another one to take the defeated one's place. There has never been a Goa'uld with the same dietary needs as you and your people." Janet still could barely take his eyes from the man.

"Who better to hunt a Wampyr than another _Wampyr_? This is so? I will speak to my tribe. They will agree, I will see to it. "

"But how can you help us? Can you travel in daylight? I mean garlic and a stake through the heart? I mean, you are the living dead?" Daniel's naiveté was showing.

"I know nothing of this stake in heart and living dead. I am appalled you would think this living dead?" Yurik took umbrage and rose angrily from the table.

"The legends of the Tauri's world are distorted and meant to scare the children and the weak minded." Teal'c tossed in an explanation as an apology of sorts.

"We can travel by day but our flesh is too sensitive for us to be in the full sunlight. We, however, live twice the life span of most humans. We believe in a divine Protector who gave us all life. Does this satisfy you?"

"Please, is there is anyway that you can help the Colonel?" Carter asked the tears at her lashes.

Yurik took her hand and kissed her wrist. He drew back as if slapped. "You have the same taste as the evil one." His burgundy eyes narrowed and he stepped towards the door, the shadows beginning to absorb him.

"No, she was once possessed by a Goa'uld, a Tok'ra actually, but that is too long to explain, and Teal'c carries the larva of one. The Goa'uld has enslaved his people, the Jaffa, for centuries. The Jaffa carry the immature symbiote till maturity. The Jaffa now, well some, are revolting against the false g-ds. Teal'c was the first of a new resistance movement. "

Still melding into the shadows, Yurik nodded his head. "Tomorrow, at the rise of the second moon." With those words, he stepped into the night. Daniel rushed to the door with Teal'c, but they could not find so much as a footprint in the soft dirt outside of their host's door. "

"Until Lord Yurik returns, you will eat, sleep, and we will share knowledge of this world and that of the home world." Ivanyn tossed slabs of meat on plates, bloody and butter tender. "You will need all of your strength to hunt down the demon."

▬p p p p p▬

Was it the third or fourth time that he had found himself in the sarcophagus? Jack wondered as he felt around him. There was still a great amount of pain, but he was starting to understand Camazotz's strategy. She was letting this damn Goa'uld coffin heal him but only to a point. It would be too dangerous for her to have him restored to full health.

Jack could tell his blood volume was restored; yes, she had seen to it he was refilled like a propane tank for a BBQ grill. The wounds sustained under her treatment were, for the most part, healed. His right wrist felt more strained than broken and he knew how to tell the difference. The whipping his back had taken was itching, so more than likely, that was in the healing- to- scaring- over stage. The neck wound, hell, she might as well just install a tap so she could drink her fill whenever she wanted.

The only thing that could not be restored was his resistance. It was fading incrementally with each session in the sarcophagus. He'd seen what it had done to Daniel and now it was happening to him, but is seemed to be happening so fast. It had to be something to do with her blood; each session with Camazotz had involved at least once her feeding him her blood or letting her blood flow into one of his open wounds. Something about her blood making him ingest it or her introducing it to his blood stream, maybe Nanocytes or some kind of infectious properties to it Jack had been around Janet long enough to pick up some of medical/science of the Goa'uld and he had been exposed to something like this before- twice, actually. Once, he had aged to over one hundred years old with Kinthia - field rations, O'Neill, he reminded himself. The other had been planet of light and dark with the Broca Divide thing, or had that been a virus?

The lid of the sarcophagus slid back and, before he could react, strong jaffa hands pulled him upright. Jack was half dragged back to his cell. Once again he was strapped between two pillars. He'd lost track of time and one of the Jaffa ladled water down his throat after he had been secured. When he had his last meal was as lost to him as what day it was. Camazotz wouldn't let him die from hunger or thirst because she usually didn't let him live that long before she drained him and tossed him back in that damn sarcophagus.

In the red glow of the burning braziers, Jack waited for his tormentor. It was a short wait. Camazotz was escorted into his chamber. She had adorned herself in the sheerest of white silk leaving nothing of her perfect body to the imagination. Her lips were soft and sweet against his Jack screamed obscenities at her as she slipped to her knees in front of him.

The acts Camazotz performed would have driven a eunuch insane. As he went over the edge, her fangs pierced the femoral vein of Jack's thigh and she began to drink her fill. Spent, exhausted, and once again ensanguined, Jack couldn't resist Camazotz as she opened her wrist and fed him her spiced honey flavored contamination, her blood.

Friday, October 15, 2004 6204 word count final revision 10/25/2004 7:13 PM

End Part One of Crimson Madness TBD


	2. CHAPTER TWO

TITLE:CRIMSON MADNESS Part Two

AUTHOR:KD3 aka KRISS DREMAK STATUS:Part Two series SUMMARY:Sequel to Dark Embrace ARCHIVED :The Vampire Goa'uld Camazotz is back and she wants Jack As her mate and will settle for nothing else. SG1 and new allies must save him.

_Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE. The characters mentioned in this story are the property of and Gekko Film Corp. The SG-1 together with the names, titles and back story are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp., Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This Fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment.  
All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.  
© 2004 KD³ Tales from the Gate Kristine "Kriss" Dremak 2004 October 13, 2004_

The cavern was immense and glimmered with the stalactites, stalagmites and huge crystal formations some taller than ten feet. It had taken them generations but without losing the natural beauty of the mineral and gemstone formations the Obyri had formed dwellings and homes in the labyrinths of caves under the mountain ranges of this planet they had been transplanted to. Yurik stood in front of the gathering of all the elders and respected members of his people. In his role as one of the eldest and direct descendant of the Masters, Yurik prepared to address the representatives of his people.

"The strangers who come from the first world, who walked through the Circle of standing water, have returned. They need our help." He laid it out with out any preamble.

"Why should we help them?" The question came from a distant uncle from his mating with, Perita, his deceased mate and the mother of his only child and heir, Umbra. The question was not raised with any more emotion than simple inquisitiveness.

"The one who caused the Usurper demonness to flee has become her captive. These people offer us their hand in friendship and ask nothing more of us." Yurik was supposing this though he knew this is what the people he had heard called Tau'ri had agreed to with Ivanyn and the Rusno. He hoped that the same would be offered to him.

There was a soft murmur among the group. There was a debt to be paid here and the Obyri knew it. The Goa'uld had come destroying several generations back. She immediately began to ravage the Rusno feeding her hunger, as they had once millennium before, before they had come to a mutually beneficial relationship. The Rusno in turn began to fear the Obyri and hunted them and kept them from the herds of fat cattle and other animals that Obyri needed to feed from. They had been forced to move further, deeper into the caves and into the darkness of night, away from one-time friends.

The number of the Wampry had dwindled due to the lack of food and the perdition by both Camazotz and the Rusno. From what had been tens of thousands, they had been reduced to, and maintained, a population of no more then several thousand scattered over the entire surface of the habitable portions of the planet. There were those of his kind who had resorted to the wild ways and had fled to untamed parts of the planet. His own clan numbered 1313, the holy number.

Yurik felt a gentle touch on his arm; he turned to find his beautiful daughter, Umbra. Only a head shorter her figure was perfect , each line and curve could have been carved by an artist, Her skin just as pale as the purest of marble and her burgundy eyes as deep as an aged wine and liquid with emotion Her hair, the color of copper, was tied at her right ear and hung in a braid down to her waist. She was the vision of his dead love, her mother.

"How can we help them, these Tauri?" She asked, her voice as soft as a leaf falling on a slow running stream.

"They mean to free their silver- haired warrior. He is important to them. He is a great leader. I have seen how they speak of him. I reached into their hearts. There is much love and respect for this one named O'Neill. They fear and hate the vile one as much if not more than we." Yurik continued, taking his daughters hand in his.

"I would go to them, father. I know their ways better more than any other of our kind." Umbra stated and her remark caused a gasp from the assembled. They knew that she was speaking truth for she had taken it upon herself, as had her mother, to keep close surveillance on the demon and her warriors. This duty had caused her mother's death and nearly her own.

Umbra bore the scars of a staff weapon blast on one well-shaped leg. The magic of the Obyri had barely been enough to sustain her, only her determination had kept her from dying. Umbra had been present, hidden in the shadows invisible to Camazotz and her minion, during O'Neill's captivity. She had seen the valiant struggle to not succumb, the torture of his body and the horror in his eyes and the agony of his soul when he had been tricked into killing innocents. His was a soul worth saving and, as the Shamaness of her clan, she was bound to be healer and the helper.

"Daughter, do you know what you offer?" Yurik looked into his daughter's eyes as he cupped her face in his hands.

"Yes, father, it is my place. If all agree, we shall return to these people and show them they may have a friend in the Obyri." Umbra leaned up and kissed her father on the cheek.

Yurik and Umbra waited only moments for the collective to give them their agreement. The soft wave of thoughts and words washed over them. Though they lived off blood, they were not the killers of the ancient days and only wished harmony and peace to be.

At the next moon rises, father and daughter presented themselves in the home of the Provider and to the expectant faces of the strangers.

"Vampires? Are you serious? Do you really think I can believe that? I am, you are, we are scientists!" Sam yelled back into Daniel's face as she paced back and forth in the bedroom they had been shown to. Teal'c sat on the floor in the first stages of Kel'no'reem. One eyebrow raised in both annoyance and awareness of the heated conversation.

"Sam, you saw Jack the last time,. Janet told us he had been nearly bled to death, drained of his blood, and the marks on his neck. If Camazotz is not a real vampire, then she is mimicking all of what we know as actions of one. The blood drinking; only coming out at night..." Daniel was trying to appease Sam but he knew it was her deep unspoken concern for Jack that was driving her.

"Vampires?" Sam down heavily and grabbed one of the pillows and hugged it tightly.

"The Obyri are Wampry, I mean vampires, Sam, but apparently not in the image that has been portrayed on late night moves and in a Bram Stoker novel." Again he was using the same voice he used when he tried to placate Jack.

"I want to test them." The voice was Janet's as she and CJ entered the room the only door was a soft fabric curtain to the central hallway.

"Look ,I'm not Buffy or Wes Craven here, but I have seen a lot of weird crap brought through the gate and all the stuff you guys have witnessed. Why is there a problem with the fact these Obies are real vampires?" CJ barked, wishing she had a cigarette and a shot of tequila. About now she was missing the quiet of the psycho wards.

"Obyri," Daniel corrected.

"Whatever, Oprahs, Opies, whomever, okay, I mean if they have some kind of symbiotic relationship with the Rusnos and they don't suck people dry of all their blood, turn them into creatures of the night Nosferatu style, or fly around like bats, live and let live. Our main concern should is to get the Colonel back before that damn Goa'uld accomplishes what she tried last time."

CJ's rather heated statement made the members of SG1 looked at her a little differently. She had been Jack's nurse after the last incident, almost his private keeper, and it had been CJ that managed to subdue a dangerous and traumatized Colonel without concern for her personal welfare. She still had the scars. It was also because of her background and her time with O'Neill that her remarks bore more weight. Up until now, she had remained a silent observer.

"Oh, hell!. Look my grandmother on my mother's side was from the old country. I'm part Romanian. These people, the Rusno, could be distant cousins. Daniel, you know the legends of night flying demons are common among many cultures. My grandmother spoke of things she heard, things the Red Army couldn't beat and were even scared of." CJ didn't know what else to say but knew she was clouding her real concern for the Colonel. He had barely made it out the last time, if he was subjected to the same torture again even the Iron Colonel may not make it out because there was a darker aspect to it. Too many atrocities had been committed on his body and psyche. There was going to come a day when he would succumb. He would be lost to himself and everyone else. She wanted to prevent that from happening, at least on her watch.

Teal'c absorbed the nurse's words and saw into her soul. There was more than just the concern of legends in her mind. He remembered how difficult it had been to reach O'Neill again after his first encounter with Camazotz. He had seen a change in relationship with General Hammond and O'Neill as if they shared a secret that only they were privy to, one that went beyond their shared working experience. He was, in fact, saddened that he had no part in this new intimacy ,but understood his friend O'Neill had to hold his desolation within fearing it freed,  
it would conquer him, fearing it freed , it would devastate those the warrior loved and cared for.

"Yurik has returned." Ivanyn announced as he pushed the curtain back.

The five rushed after their host and followed him into the night air. Under the light of the twin moons Yurik stood for a brief moment , his eyes glowed in the reflected silver light, making it appear as if they were glowing garnets. Next to him dressed in the same gray black material clinging to her shape was a young woman. Her beauty was unsurpassed and Daniel even heard Teal'c sharply inhaled in appreciation. Again in the presence of the Obyri, the SGC personnel felt the overwhelming sense of attractions, arousal and yet calm. There was no threat or evil with these people.

"My daughter will travel with you.," Yurik stated softly, both pride and concern in his voice as he took the young woman's hand and led her to Daniel. "She is special to me and special to my people."

"Yurik this is such a ..." Daniel stumbled for the words ,unable to take his eyes of the young woman's face. Her skin was pale as milk but her burgundy colored eyes seemed to glow with a fire of emotions, and yet her full lips smiled with a promise of humor. The touch of her skin was like silk. Her scent was floral like the first inhalation of a meadow full of wild flowers after a late spring rain.

"I am Umbra, daughter of Yurik. I will go with you." She looked directly at Daniel and searched deep the clear calm blue waters of his eyes. Her gaze pierced his soul gently but Daniel felt himself weak(,) and sat down heavily unable to find the strength to continue standing so draining was her gaze. But then he let her in, opened to her, let all guards down and he was no longer weak. There was a sweetness even a contentment that suddenly washed over him as if some of the scars had been removed from his battered heart.

Umbra felt it all - sensed pain and honesty in Daniel that was so pure it soothed any anxiety. She took one of Daniel's hands and brought his wrist up to her lips. For a second she felt the pulse on her damask rose lips and drank in his scent. A quick bite and she could mark him but now was not the time. "We are honored by you offer to accompany us on this mission,. " Teal'c the only one who seemed to be unaffected by the two Obyri, bowed to the young woman. "Will you require or have any special needs?"

"Few will be my needs; I am ready to depart with you. We must away for it cannot be allowed for the demoness to destroy the silver haired warrior. This would be too grievous." Umbra's concern was added to the soft rustle of her voice. She released Daniel's hand and looked into her father's eyes. While the Obyri were not true telepaths, they were empaths. Her touching of Daniel had shown her father that he was the one she had chosen. Yurik agreed Daniel was the most likely to be sympathetic and ready to provide what his daughter would need to undertake this mission.

Umbra acknowledged Teal'c, but could not bring herself near him. The symbiote within him was of the same vileness that been devastating her world for generations. The imposing warrior was an enigma for he possessed a heart that struggled to redeem itself. The darkness was there, created from falsehoods and the ignorance of cultural imprinting. Now, with his concern for his comrade she could see the love he had and the pain he suffered. These gate walkers, as she had come to think of them, were to be trusted.

Breaking the silent spell that had drifted over the room was the sudden crackle of Major Lawrence's radio. Captain Nave, who had taken up watch at the gate, was relaying information from the SGC.

"Major, your father has sent the gate address for the rendezvous. We have util 2315 to go through the gate."

The announcement brought the SG personnel back to the ugly and urgent realities. Umbra turned to her father and they hugged with Yurik kissing her gently on the forehead in a normal representation of family life.

"Major, there was a stipulation. Your father said he can only handle eight people, and that is counting the Colonel, on the way back." Lawrence hesitated to provide the information though he had already prepared his cut list.

"This one will stay. We can learn much of your people as you can of us." Yurik announce taking a surprised CJ's hand.

" 'kay." CJ managed to mutter feeling almost palpable power coming from the satin touch of the Vampire.

"Captain Nave and Lieutenant Blaney are going to stay and guard the gate and ..." Lawrence decided and received a nod from Sam. While he was the senior officer , it was Sam who was in command. "You, Captain O'Connor do what ever medical things.. are needed." He eyed Yurik warily for the first time.

"Your people will be under my protection." Yurik smiled broadly knowing that Lawrence's remark had the hidden message of protecting the blonde nurse from him. His smile was friendly but revealed two large canines which did nothing to ease Lawrence's concern.

The team headed towards the gate accompanied by Yurik and Ivanyn. Daniel took Umbra's hand as he led he to the event horizon.

"There is alot of science behind this and Sam, Major Carter, can explain that but, well, there is just so much to explain." Daniel was entranced and finding it hard to keep his thoughts from anything but Umbra. Her skin, so alabaster, seems to emit warmth like heat through velvet. "You don't have to be frightened."

"I trust you, Daniel." Umbra said simply and took a step through the gate her hand still in Daniel's.

As the gate shut down, Captain Nave and Lieutenant Blaney turned to eye Ivanyn and Yurik who now had his arms around CJ's waist. To their surprise, two more beautiful women seemed to apport from the under the shadows of the twin full moons.

The three SG personnel found themselves wrapped in the loving embrace each of an Obyri. At first the kisses were light but became more passionate and they could not help but respond in kind. Ivanyn smiled knowingly as he watched the eyes of the Obyri glow red as their fangs sank into the exposed jugulars of the gate walkers.

His lips were caked closed with clotted blood. His entire body screamed in pain, his arms were stretched beyond endurance and his legs collapsed. And in all of it, the maelstrom of crippling agony there was hunger. Jack was hungry. It would have been funny if were not for the fact he was dying, again, correction being murdered. A bowl of Fruit Loops, no better yet, a big thick steak from O'Malley's like the four he, Sam and Daniel had devoured that one night, hot meat, tender and bloody.

"For crying out loud, O'Neill!" Jack heard his feeble voice croak out. It was hard to speak. Camazotz had torn a few new holes into his neck and there was hunger's buddy, thirst, to contend with. Well, he had lost track of how long he had been the bitch's quest. She wasn't feeding him because he was the main course, boy toy and entree rolled into one. There was no need to feed him she was going to just kill him and then bring him back again.

Jack tried to stand up to ease the burning in his upper extremities and was delighted when his right leg managed to not buckle. The left one was too weak. Camazotz had started tapping the femoral vein in his thigh after she had; he brushed that episode out of his mind with a shake of his head. That was a mistake, the dark room spun and felt like he was in a F-111 in a flat spin. When the torture stick hit his stomach above the navel. it felt like he had just flown into a mountainside. His scream was a ragged expletive.

Where was plan "B"? Had Hammond and his team forgotten him? As much as he wanted to live, he'd welcome death rather than to put them in harm's way. Jack had always known his life was forfeit if it meant ensuring the safety and security for others, the others he was to protect, defend. The sharp twisted sword that he had impaled himself on when first the team had become a team and the mission of the Stargate his life, oh, and death.

He opened his eyes to see the Jaffa who was torturing him and was surprised to see the snake bitch herself wielding the torture stick. It no longer mattered that he was naked, and a couple of quarts low. Camazotz was touching him again in that way she had, she knew ways to excite him. They worked even now- her mouth licking at the wounds she had made, sucking more of his blood, manipulating him, one slender hand had even slipped between his ass cheeks and tapped at his rear entrance. That wasn't virginal either, the Iraqi's had seen to that and the right pressure on the prostate and the little Colonel was going to be salute, not that he wasn't already. He'd lost control over his body; it was doing what it wanted, what Camazotz wanted it to. Jack was feeling himself withdrawing, as if he was compressed into a fetal position of madness, a crimson madness.

"You are so handsome my love. Soon, but not yet, you will be ready for me." Camazotz kissed Jack on the chin and then stood back as she applied the torture stick to his groin.

The razor of Jack's scream sliced through the last of his control. The ebony of unconsciousness absorbed him even as his body thrashed wildly with spasm of murderous pain. Camazotz removed the torture stick and began to suck what little blood was left from her helpless captive's throat. The adrenalin and endorphins released in Jack's blood flavored it even more deliciously. His heart stopped but the sarcophagus waited.

And so ended Jack's third day of captivity and the fifth time he had died.

The SG personnel numbered seven- Lawrence and Sergeant Gresco the only two marines to come along as backup. Sam had dialed up the coordinates sent by her father and the team found themselves on desert planet and under the shadow of a Tel'tak.

"Looks like our ride is here.," Lawrence commented to Teal'c, who was walking soberly to a spot he somehow instinctively knew would be the location of the ring transporter device. Daniel was rather preoccupied with Umbra who had crumpled against him the sun light sunlight too intense for her.

Sam, Janet, and Sergeant Gresco huddled with Teal'c as Daniel gallantly pulled his jacket over and around Umbra and stepped into a small circle. The rings descended from the hovering cargo ship and a moment later the seven stood in the cargo area of the purloined Goa'uld ship. Jacob Carter hugged his daughter and then addressed the others.

"Sorry folks, not all the comforts of home. You are going to have to make do. It's going to be three days by Tel'tak to Camazotz's little hideaway." Jacob paused as he looked at Umbra for the first time as she unwrapped herself from Daniel's protection.

Umbra clung to Daniel as Jacob took a step closer.

"And who is this?" Selmak, not Jacob was speaking. His eyes flashed white for a moment and the altered timbre of his voice had Umbra backing even further away from him.

"No, it's okay, he isn't like Camazotz, I mean, he is, but not..." Daniel was trying to reassure the beautiful woman. Her body was pressed tight against him and the feel of her curves molding into his was disconcerting. His inability to breath and the sudden rivulets of sweat that trickled down his spine were harbingers of his growing arousal.

"I'll explain it to you later but let me get her settled." It was Janet who stepped up and led Daniel and Umbra to a far recess of the cargo bay. Jacob had thought of their comfort on the multiple day trips and had a selection of To'kra sleeping pallets laid out, like a symbiote slumber part was going on.

Daniel and Umbra picked the most shadowed of area. Daniel immediately set out to lie)out the sleeping pallets. Janet began to explain the symbiote good Goa'uld bad Goa'uld thing. Umbra seemed to be absorbing it all but her wine colored eyes started to glaze over. Janet recognized the look from dealing with the Colonel, information overload.

"I suggest you all get settled and get some sleep.," Jacob called over his shoulder as he took the controls. Sam stood behind him one hand on her father's shoulders, reassured by the mere luxury of the touch. Teal'c had slipped into the copilot's seat and was doing a thorough systems checks in a Jaffa busy work way.

"What is with the ... Sammy, who is she? Better yet, what is she? Selmak doesn't recognize her species." Jacob had lowered his voice to a whisper.

"She is a Vampire." Teal'c stated evenly.

If a Tel'tak could screech to a halt, Jacob would have been the one to do it. Instead the vessel just swerved wildly for a moment before he regained his composure and turned his control seat back to face forward.

"Dad, this is going to take some explaining." Sam began scooting in between Teal'c and her Dad and leaning on the arm of Teal'c's chair.

"We got three days Sammy, start explaining." Jacob had locked his gaze on his nervous genius daughter and internally conferred with Selmak on the possibility that all the gate travel Sam had done may have finally caused some brain damage to her beautiful blond head.

"The pain will go away soon. You must eat and drink and regain your strength." Ivanyn said softly sitting next to CJ, applying a soft cool wet cloth to her neck.

CJ chose to react quickly and bolted upright. That was a mistake and she collapsed on the bed feeling like she had drank too much of the secretly wished for Tequila.

"What the hell happened?" She managed to whisper.

"You have been marked by the Master Wampry himself. While the Obyri do not take Rusno victims any longer, it was necessary for him to display the trust he now places with your people." Ivanyn patted the woman on the shoulder.

"Gather yourself and come to the table. There is much food and the day is warm."

Ivanyn left the room and in the doorway , a new figure appeared, Captain Nave. Tall and always a little lanky, the surprisingly soft-spoken member of SG 3 stood with disheveled uniform and a perplexed look on his face. He motioned for permission to enter and CJ room. He came in followed by Lieutenant Blaney in a similar condition.

"Well, I know I didn't cut myself shaving, so how do we explain these to General Hammond?" The Captain asked softly tilting his head to show the two round puncture wounds over his jugular vein. There was an amused twinkle in his dark eyes.

"Hammond? General Hammond?" CJ almost panicked.

"We're due to report in, in three hours." Blaney explained.

"Crap." All three moaned in unison. Captain Nave extended a hand to CJ and pulled her to her feet. The three shuffled wearily down the main corridor to the central room. The smell of meat cooking making all three stomachs growl. They had three hours to eat and prepare their report for Hammond. Best they keep their stories straight.

Twelve hours had elapsed during which Daniel had given Umbra the Readers Digest © version of the history of Earth after the Goa'uld arrived, the gate, and brought Umbra up to date. Umbra was not immediately forth coming with a history of her people. Janet had begun to run tests on the young woman and tried not to show her amusement at the horror Umbra had shown when she took a blood sample. Umbra had seemed horrified that the blood was going to be kept in a small vial. Blood was vital to the Obyri and as much also considered sacred. The medical action was necessary, Janet had reassured in a manner of research.

Sam was sharing co-pilot duties with Teal'c while her father took some needed down time, even Tokra needed to sleep. Lawrence and Gresco were curled up in sleeping bags like preschoolers at nap time, but only after a 10 hour Texas hold'em Poker match which Janet had managed to triumph in. The two marines now owed her their next month salary. Oh, course she would never collect.

Umbra had chosen a corner and between some Goa'uld packing cases and wrapped herself in her soft gray traveling cape. She lay there nearly motionless for hours. Daniel contended himself with writing in his field notebooks and barely noticed when Umbra was suddenly at his side kneeling before him.

"Forgive me, Daniel." Umbra looked at him from between his legs. Even as pale as she was normally her skin now seemed tissue paper thin with dark circles under her eyes.

"What is it?" Daniel took her hands in his. She was cold and there was just the slightest of tremors in her thin hands.

"I need to feed." Umbra looked at him her burgundy eyes glowed softly.

End Part Two... Very much to be continued!


	3. CHAPTER THREE

Crimson Madness Part Three

Daniel tried to accept the words that came from Umbra's mouth, even her soft dulcet tones could not help dilute the meaning behind her simple statement. She needed to feed. He was aware that he had agreed to the possibility of being her source of sustenance. Now, faced with this prospect, fear had taken a hold of his internal organs and was practicing sailor's knots with them. Umbra was so beautiful and delicate as she gazed up at Daniel was unable to resist her angelic face.

Sam glanced from the cockpit and winced at the scene knowing what was about to happen and trying not to form any visuals. She held the bile down in her throat and stare back into space. Janet, on the other hand, continued to glare like a protective pit bull ready to lock her little jaws on to the red haired woman at the first sign of Daniel's discomfort.

Umbra took Daniel's left hand into hers and lifted it to her face. She turned it palm side up. Her breath was warm on his wrists. Umbra's full lips pressed against the skin feeling an increase in Daniel's pulse. Her tongue flicked out and touched the vein. She looked up into Daniel's face gazing deep into his blue eyes which widened saucer wide behind the lenses of his glasses. She began to keep time with her tongue to the staccato of his pulse. Umbra reassured him with a smile. The sensation of her tongue was beginning to excite the young professor.

"Will it hurt?" Daniel whispered, mesmerized. The sight of the beautiful woman licking his wrist caused a myriad of emotions and flushed out any academic detachment that was tenaciously holding on.

"For only a moment, I would do nothing that would bring harm to you Daniel." Umbra spoke, yet her lips and tongue were active on his wrist. She was sending the message to him telepathically and he was receptive.

"Okay, well…" Daniel gasped audibly at the sudden pin prick of pain which was immediately replaced by a warm rush of pleasure. He seemed to be surrounded by a kaleidoscope of colors, heightened by his increased awareness of his own skin. Daniel could feel Umbra's lips on his flesh and how his crimson blood flowed lava hot towards her tongue. A heavy metal drummer was using his brains for a base drum and driving his heart to beat so fast as to threatening to break through his ribcage.

Every part of him was becoming aroused. Daniel could feel the painfully hard erection that was forming between his legs and he didn't care. He was in the moment, obsessed, enveloped and totally immersed in the pain/pleasure that was Umbra's feeding. There was a moment of sublime lightness when everything was suspended in a soft cotton cloud of sweet ultimate pleasure. The moan that floated over his lips was of satisfaction, an orgasm without the issue. Too quickly Umbra withdrew and left him weak and whimpering, Daniel groaned in displeasure even as he felt her arms around him.

Umbra looked away from Daniel to see a disgusted Sam standing near by." He will sleep for a short time. No harm has come to him. I have taken just enough to maintain my strength." Umbra's comments were directed at Sam and all that were within the sound of her voice. She projected the thought into Janet's mind. The healer woman had to be convinced completely. Umbra then turned her attention back to Daniel. From a pocket deep in the folds of her gown she drew a long band of black velvet. Umbra wrapped the material around his wrist. It acted as both bandage and a way to mark him as hers.

Daniel reached over and took Umbra's face into his hands and pulled her lips to his mouth. Still euphoric he kissed her deeply savoring the taste of her mouth, oblivious to the taste of his own blood on her lips. It only pleased him more that she answered his kiss passionately, her tongue danced with his.

"It... that was incredible. I just don't know how to describe it." Daniel whispered into Umbra's ear as he nuzzled her throat. His lips touched her alabaster skin and hovered against the jugular vein. Umbra suppressed her own gasp of pleasure to be touched in what her people considered a most intimate of ways had her straining to contain her needs. She wanted to take Daniel, to feel him inside of her spilling his pleasure into her velvet interior as she sank her fangs into his throat and drank of him. To bring him so close to death in the deepest moments of pleasure, only mates fed from each others throats, representing their passion and once violent nature.

"It is not as your legends would have you believe. Once, in the early days of darkness, we would take as we needed with no concern for the donor. Daniel, we have come to live in harmony with our nature. We respect all creatures; this only happened when the glowing eyed ones brought this entire village here and the ancestors of my tribe. "Umbra let her lips touch Daniel's neck. She could once again feel the pulse at his vein and fought with herself against her primitive urges. It was his kisses and the taste of him, she was of mating age and Daniel was very attractive. It was not unheard of for there to be cross species mating. Umbra had needs that had been suppressed with her duties to the clan. She had been rushed into here position with the death of her mother.

Daniel was trying to pull himself away from Umbra but the urge to make love to here was strong as the last vestiges of her _"feeding"'_ dissipated. "You are so beautiful. " There was a pain, a tear in the fabric of his heart. He had not felt this way about a woman since the first time he had been with Sh'are.

"You are too kind Daniel, you taste so sweet. You taste of life and love and …" Umbra stopped, she need to hold in check her strong growing affection for the sandy haired off worlder. When this was over she had to remember her place, her duty to her king and the debt still owed to the "Day walkers."

For many long moments that were but mere ticks of the second hand they clung to each other giving in to the unbidden passion that was growing. Umbra broke the embrace releasing him from her embrace. "You must sleep." Umbra kissed Daniel on the eyelids letting her fingers trace across his full lips. Daniel responded to her with a sleepy smile, yet unwilling to let her out of his arms. Reluctantly he let her lay him back down and watched her even as his eye lids closed like curtains over his aqua eyes. He would and could listen to her every suggestion, wish or command, just to have her, just to know he could possess her.

Once sure that Daniel was asleep, Umbra refreshed, stepped towards the cockpit to join the others. Sam looked at her questioningly. Jacob stared at her openly and Teal'c raised an eyebrow in Jaffa disgust.

"He will sleep for a few hours, your friend is unharmed." Umbra reassured. Her words would have been better accepted had it not been for the single drop of drying blood on her proud chin.

The white light embraced him and brought him back to life, again, what was this now? Five no maybe six times? Yes, six times that she had killed him. Jack took a deep oxygen rich breath and prepared himself. This time he wanted to fight back. The white light was replaced with the vivid red of anger and hatred. Jaffa hands were on him before he could pull it all together and formulate a plan. He was naked, he had been that way for apparently days now and while he had no weapons, or place to stash one if he did, he had his anger would his nuclear reactor of power. There was not much time left, he knew he was losing the battle to the nanocytes that infected him, multiplying in his blood stream with each ingesting of Camazotz blood.

Feinting weakness and buckling knees he collapsed on his captors. Their moment of pity was the opening he needed. Somehow, perhaps a true higher being was with him, Jack managed a scissor kick to the right hand Jaffa. The armor helped take the man down in a clash of metal. Jack spun out of the grasp of the next Jaffa and was running blindly for anywhere but that damn sarcophagus.

The sound of heavily armored boots running after him echoed over the sound of his naked feet slapping against the marble floors. The lighting was only that of the torch light glowing in a soft orange. Jack had no idea what if any direction to go but if his memory had not been totally destroyed he knew that corridors usually expanded outwards. Outwards was towards freedom, or a least away from fangs and the visage of the woman he loved corrupted into a succubus that was a Goa'uld.

The Staff weapon shot hit him in the left shoulder. The ferocity of the blast propelled him forward. Jack slid like a fish on an iced over pond as e bone and muscle exploded. Armored Jaffa hands clamped around his arms and drug him away. Jack opened his eyes through the pain as he was pushed to his knees. Before him sat Camazotz, she sat draped in yards of crimson sheer cloth that did nothing to cover her nakedness, but only enhanced it. She was attended by a small prepubescent girl, whose neck was already scared and bloody from Camazotz unnatural feedings. The Goa'uld was not pleased to see him. A casual wave of a long delicate finger and several Jaffa warriors seemed to appear from behind her throne.

The beating seemed to last forever. The Jaffa were good at what they did, Jack had to admire their style. They were much better than the Iraqis. He had moaned and screamed until his throat was raw. Somewhere between his first scream and his last the agony had morphed into something darker. He was beginning to welcome the pain, maybe even enjoy it. It told him he was alive, it brought him closer to death each time. Jack felt his will break; it sounded the same as a long bone being shattered. He was ready to surrender to his captor, surrender and embrace death, a death without a return trip back. From the private hell of his mind he pleaded for the grim reaper to arrive and show him the way to the final sleep.

There was a pause and he felt a new hand on his battered body, not a bone had been left unbroken. Softly and distinctly he felt soft flesh on his swollen broken lips. The survivor in him still had a gasp of strength and wanted life at all cost. Jack felt a sensation like a bee sting from his upper jaw; it was his own incisors lengthening in to fangs. What instinct drove him, or insanity but he bit down on the soft flesh and felt the fangs puncture the throbbing vein. Hot spicy blood squirted into his mouth and Jack drank and drank greedily. Death or life no longer mattered, all that mattered now was the blood, getting the blood, tasting the blood, drinking the blood, blood was life and he wanted to drown in gallons of it.

Camazotz had Jack pulled from her neck before he could drink too much. The time when he woke from the sarcophagus, Jack would begin his journey down the path to becoming her mate and equal. His fangs were still small and he had no delicacy in the feeing but he would learn the ways from her. The first steps to her would be his unquenchable hungry. It need would overwhelm him; command him over any rational thoughts or considerations. Jack O'Neill had fallen into the endless well of her madness and the perfect Goa'uld host was developing to take his place retaining only Jack's basic and baser instincts, the primitive darkness within this Tau'ri that had mastered her, the one Camazotz had fallen in the Goa'uld equivalent of love/lust with. There would be no equal to them once he took a symbiote. Together they would conquer the System Lords who had made her an outsider. To watch Jack take his first kill would be more exciting than any physical pleasure he had given her for in that act he would be lost to her, forever.

Captains' Nave, O'Connor and Sergeant Blaney stood in front of the Star gate. The MALP's camera was trained up at them. While they had no visual of Hammond they could hear the concern that lay like a mist over the anger in the commanding general's voice. CJ began to formulate the words to appease the bald Texan. Captain Nave and the Sergeant had positioned themselves behind her.

"We are developing a good relationship with the locals, the Rusno, sir. They are very nice people and also the Obies." She began trying to exude confidence.

"Obryi" Nave and Blaney corrected.

"The Obryi have sat down with us and provided us each a kind of liaison as it were, "CJ continued hoping that General would not detect her nervousness.

"And how are you explaining the marks on your neck?" Hammond's voice seemed to shake the MALP.

"Well, it was to show good faith with them, the vampires,… I mean the Ophra's... We have to show that we were willing to allow them to well..." CJ had run out of ways to describe that the vampires were sucking blood from each on of them. There were not politically correct terms for it or medical to fall back on.

"Sir, I take full responsibility." Captain Nave interrupted." However, sir, we are learning a lot about both cultures and they are interacting quite freely. They want to arrange any kind of trade or treaty we can offer them."

Hammond was taken aback. Captain Nave never ceased to surprise him. The quiet Gary Cooperish Marine was very literate, and quite the Renaissance man. His interest and concern about the indigenous people was out of place for most "jar heads" but totally in line for a gentleman such as Nave.

"Sir, actually the data that I am collecting on the medical aspects of the vampires is very interesting. If we have t o let them have a little blood to seal the deal, there is no danger. Besides sir, we have asked and been given blood samples from them. Blood is held in a total different regard here with this race. My standing concern sir and that of Dr. Frasier's was that we might transmit some illness to them that they have no immunity to., We don't want to be the ones to introduce some nasties to them." CJ backed up Nave in trying to explain it all. All of this was true but what was not being said was the growing attraction she had to Yurik that was going way beyond clinical. It could be the intimacy of the blood swapping that was affecting her but she could not be sure. It was however, also affecting the Captain and the Sergeant and the vampires they had been paired with.

"Be careful, and if you hear anything from SG1, contact me immediately. Hammond out." The connection with the SGC ended abruptly as the worm hole collapsed.

The threesome looked at each other knowing that they were only a few inches from being on Hammond's shit list; letting themselves be bitten by vampires that were one for the log books and the Science Fiction Channel. It was not in the regs or in any procedure manual for first contact but then the books on protocol was being rewritten every time another team went through the gate.

The sun was beginning to set and they would have to expose their throats again. They would be fed off of with no protest and a intimacy that was coming closer to being shared on a more physical level with each session. Fifty yards from the gate the three turned back as the first chevron engaged.

Captain Nave managed to get CJ out of the way before the event horizon whooshed out. Blaney had managed to hurl himself clear. The event horizon retracted to a shimmering pool of vertical water and a moment later the first Serpent guard walked through.

Yet another revision 4/09/05

Word count 2795

**TBD PART FOUR **


	4. CHAPTER FOUR

CRIMSON MADNESS PART FOUR

It didn't' go unnoticed , the colour that came to Umbra's cheeks the flush of life in her after her "feeding." Daniel slept like a contented innocent under her watchful gaze. Janet Fraiser had check Daniel's his vitals twice while he slept completely unaware of her medical touch. The doctor had then turned her attention to Umbra. Reluctantly the mysterious young woman allowed a small blood sample to be taken.

"I assure you I have done him no harm. " Umbra's tone was dulcet and reassuring for she had taken a liking to this dark haired woman of medicine .

Janet had heard her and believed her even as she inspected the wounds on Daniel's wrist. Sam had approached and seen the marks and gulped and returned to the cockpit . Teal'c had taken a moment and with a raised eyebrow he had asked his paragraph of questions. A smile from Fraiser had reassured him that Daniel was indeed in no harm.

"How many more times are you going to need to …." Janet waved a hand Daniel's wrist.

"It will depend on how long we are away from my home and how much is required of me. As with you who consume solids there is a direct relationship to the amount of nourishment needed to sustain one's strength and power." Umbra sat next to Daniel and began to stroke his hair softly, the gestures of a lover or of a master and favored pet, it was easy for Janet to see both.

Daniel on the other hand was still in a half way state between deep sleep and REM. It was a very pleasant place to be and dreams were forming mostly of his being naked with Umbra. It had been sometime since he had thought of a woman, there were always thoughts of Sha're and how he felt no one could compare to the love they had. Yet, now there was Umbra and she awoke in him a willingness to be submissive to her desires.

"Trust me , Daniel." The phrase seemed to echo in his head as he found himself floating back into consciousness. It was Umbra's voice. He woke to find her staring at him with a melancholy smile. Daniel offered her his wrist unwrapping the velvet as he lifted it to her lips. Umbra's eyes filled with tears as she took the offering and let her tears splash onto the two circular wounds.

He was naked, again, in pain again, but not in the sarcophagus . He had a name and he could almost reach it but his arms were leaden. Nothing about his body seemed to be right, it was as if he was moving into a new body and not quite ready for the break in period. His tongue seemed to still work and he licked his parched lips. Something was crusted on them and the scant moisture of his tongue seemed to liquefy the solid. It had a taste of spiced honey over cooper. It was a familiar taste. It was blood, her blood.

A wrist was pressed to his lips. There was blood, thick hot spiced blood and he wanted it. He lapped at it. He gagged. Someone inside of him screamed profanity at him but that was the one that was dying, the one who had given up for just long enough, a nanosecond long enough, for him to be free. He remembered the look of his mistress, the blonde tresses that caressed the body that he longed to be permitted to pleasure, the woman he loved who mastered him, who opened the door for his darkest secret self, the submissive.

The other voice continued to scream, it wanted to cry but had forgotten how years ago, its heart had become so hardened that is had shoved him into the darkness and lived off denial of his emotions. They both loved the woman, the blonde, the forbidden.A voice too battered to be heard screamed over the moans of pleasure , " Jack, Jack O'Neill."

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Jacob/Selmak and Teal'c guided the cargo ship into a synchronous orbit around the planet that the Tok'ra had determined to be Camazotz's base of operations. Even at hyper speed the trip had taken over 78 hours . Umbra had fed twice and Daniel, though slightly weakened, was being supported by Janet with vitamin and mineral supplements. There was a growing attraction between the two, though it seemed more like lust on Daniel's part. He was in a heightened state of arousal to the point he was ignoring coffee.

Sam had not slept more than two hours at any given time. Her stomach was in a knot the closer they got to the destination. No one had said anything to her specifically but she did remember after the last time the Colonel had been captured by Camazotz that he had reacted violently around her and then seemed to avoid her for weeks while he recovered. When she had questioned the nurse she had been given a brush off, even her friend, Janet had not been forth coming. There was something about Camazotz that no one was telling her.

Jacob knew as they began their orbit that he would now have to relay the To'kra intel to his traveling companions. It was not going to be received well. In some respects he was glad that Jack was not there for he would have had the Colonel in his face and once again Jack would have had it proved to him that he could not trust the To'kra.

"Sam, Daniel, everyone, there are some things that you need to know about what is going on, on the planet's surface." Jacob began hesitantly. Selmak was trying to persuade him that there would be no backlash and that the lesser developed Tauri would just have to accept that they should only know what they needed to know on what the Tok'ra had determined to be a need to know basis.

"Oh for crying out loud!" that familiar utterance came from an unexpected source. Janet was standing hands on narrow hips with a glare to her brown eyes that seemed too familiar but usually seen from a much greater height.

"Don't start." Jacob snapped back.

"Dad, what is it?" Sam tried to seem interested but not distressed, the pursing of her lips however reflected her anxiety.

"Camazotz has a slave labor camp set up. Since she arrived her five months ago she has been working the indigenous people to early and very cruel deaths. That is those that are working in the mines … there are others who just disappear. " Jacob ran a hand over he bald pate trying to conceal the horrors that had been described.

"Somehow, with her promise to either kill or deliver SG1 to the System Lords they gave her a mother ship and a small fleet of support and attack vessels. She is not serious enough of a threat to take on the whole gang but …."

"Jacob, what are you not telling us?" Daniel asked taking Umbra by the hand and leading her into the cockpit. Her attention was fully on the wonders of space and the planet that they circled below them. None of her people had been away from their planet since they were taken away and through the Stargate centuries before. Traveling away from the soil of their planet had been thought impossible, too fantastic and a death sentence.

"Many of the bodies of the missing are never found but those that are have been drained of blood abused. Some of what is going down there makes Netu look like a walk in the park. " Daniel and Sam shared looks that reflected the memories of the horrors they had experience at the hands of Apophis in his role as Sokar's captain. These were memories they best did without, Jacob had almost died there as had O'Neill.

"What is our plan to secure the rescue of O'Neill?" Teal'c interjected, always the pragmatist.

"Her strong hold is protected , but it appears she doesn't have any shields up. Camazotz, evidently does not believe that she is vulnerable out here. This area of the galaxy is kind of considered the Goa'uld trailer park. Our operative is posing as a over seer of the female workers and he has the duty of choosing those who are sent to serve the Goa'uld herself. "

"That is a death sentence. " Umbra's soft voice was an interruption that had the others looking at her with intense curiosity. "She was on my planet for centuries. The strongest were taken most often. She feared them the most and fed off them thinking she would strengthen herself with the very thing that could destroy her. It this way with your silver haired warrior, O'Neill. " Umbra paused knowing what she and her mother had witnessed. "She even was able to capture some of my own people. When she first arrived. We were younger and more naïve then, and there was a balance between ourselves and the Rusno."

Daniel brought his hand to her face, he could see that she was dealing with a sadness, a memory of some horror that she was not willing to share. "When she first arrived do you know if she was like she is now? "

Umbra looked deep into his eyes but was not comprehending the question.

"Was Camazotz what we call a vampire before she arrived? Did she require the ingestion of blood before she took any of your people captive?" Janet filled in the blanks that Daniel was unwilling to vocalize.

"In our collective memory it would appear that the first Gou' auld, as you call them was either dying or injured. This was when the soldiers gathered those from the Rusno and the Obryi and …." Umbra paused her mind racing and all the pieces, the secret that her mother held as the shaman of the clan, was revealed. If she spoke it out loud would these day walkers still regard her as a friend?

"She took one of your people as host didn't she?" Jacob/Selmak asked rhetorically, already knowing the answer.

Umbra turned away from them, her shoulders slumped forward and her head sagged nearly to her chest. " It was said that she was my own blood, what you would call my grandmother five generations removed. She was a shaman, medicine woman and she was taken. " Umbra turned and looked at the day walkers and then her gaze came to rest on Sam . "The shared visions we have, what you would call collective memory would have my ancestor, very similar to you in appearance Major Carter. "

Sam felt her knees go out from under her but some how grabbing on to the back of her fathers pilot seat she was able to remain standing. Janet had a hand on her elbow and managed to usher her out towards the cargo bay.

Once in a more secluded corner Janet looked into the eyes of her friend. She had suspected that there had been something more to Camazotz then she knew from the Colonel's last encounter with the vampire goa'uld. C.J. had been aware of some aspect and now it made sense as to why when Sam had come to see the Colonel in the infirmary that he had reacted so violently to her. If Camazotz did indeed look like Sam the Colonel was tortured in more ways then the blood letting and beatings. Janet was aware of the feeling, though well disguised at most times, that Jack and Sam had for each other. Jack had been carrying a torch for Sam since Antarctica . The torment of being tortured by the one you love , being brutalized, could even scar the iron walls of Jack's psyche.

"She looks like me?" Sam turned to Janet, her lip quivered and the tears poured soundlessly as Janet wrapped an arm around her.

"She has to die, Janet and I have to be the one.. so he … knows." Sam stated the sorrow displaced with growing anger, artic determination in her eyes.

Word count 2096 Tuesday, March 15, 2005


	5. Crimson Madness Chapter five

6

CRIMSON MADNESS PART FIVE

Drained again, but this time he had not resisted. Jack was screaming inside of his own mind and body with total disgust. He wanted Camazotz. He could still feel her warm wet folds as they surround his hardness. He'd been deprived for so long and though he knew she wasn't Sam, she was in his mind. Every thrust was made into the soft compliant body of his second in command, the woman he had been in love with for years. It was sick, it was wrong but the illusion was the only thing that kept him from losing his sanity. But, he had begun to lose the ability to care, to discriminate. The sex, the hunger, the need to procreate, it had been all there, and he amazed himself at his own stamina. There was madness to his need to please Camazotz, to flood her with gushes of his seminal fluid. To please her to conquer her were the only thoughts filling his head. The alternative was the crushing loneliness when she was not with him. Even to being beaten and tortured it was still in her presence. Jack knew what this was about, the Helsinki Syndrome, victims falling in love with their captors, becoming sympathetic. For crying out loud he was turning into some kind of Patty Hearst here.

Jack was going insane, his madness, the anger, the raw hate being twisted into obsession, an addiction. Jack knew from addictions and this was up there as high as it could go, higher than he had known. His sanity was speeding away from him like a comet.

Even with the prior encounter with this blood sucking bitch he had not been prepared for this reaction. He had held out for four months in Iraq, but in what was no more than a week he only wanted death, he didn't know how much longer he could hold out, the desire to give up was growing like a funnel cloud forming over the flat lands of Kansas. Rescue was just a fading fantasy, in reality, if there was a reality left, Jack prayed, yes, prayed for the first time since before his son had died.

With no hope for Hammond to mount a rescue he now prayed for deliverance in his own death. The nanocytes were taking over his body and were gaining a beachhead in his mind. Jack prayed he would die and stay dead before Camazotz could control him, turn him, implant him, for he knew that something of the host remained no matter what the Goa'uld thought or professed,. He would die a thousand deaths watching himself as her mate.

Camazotz was stroking his chest and shoulder like one would a German Sheppard her hand continued down his chest to stroke his stomach and thighs. Jack couldn't move, she had his chained down on the slab of marble that had been his bed.

"You are nearly ready my love. I must show you our future that will one day have my ruling the System Lords. You, my love, will be at my side as my consort king." Camazotz signaled for two Jaffa to unchain him and pull him to his feet.

Naked, blood covered and frail, Jack dug like a coal miner for an elusive vein of strength. His knees obeyed and with a deep breath he straightens himself. He had to maintain some dignity and self respect so he stood tall at his six foot two. A servant arrived and wrapped him with a simple white linen wrap around his waist. It did little to conceal for the sheerness of the cloth but in the twilight lightening from the braziers the material seemed to be made of blood.

On unsteady feet he was lead through the corridors following in a subservient shuffle behind Camazotz. Soon they were in a room with a large what Jack thought to be a reflecting pool or actual pool. The waters were suddenly no longer still, beneath the surface there was a subtle movement.

"Our children from our first mating, my love, for now they grow here still too young for implantation. Soon as they mature they will find wombs, Jaffa wombs." Camazotz knelt down and ran her hand lovingly in the water. She pulled out a handful of squirming white larvae.

The sight of the wriggling white worms brought a wave of nausea. Jack fell to his broken knees and tried to wretch into the pool. "Serve the little bastards right if I puke on them," was a brief lucid thought that ran through his head. Camazotz's hand touched the back of his neck.

"Your children must get to know their sire." Camazotz announced.

The impact of her statement sent more waves of pain through his gut. This pool of evil had his DNA. He couldn't allow that to happen but how to stop them?

Jack had no chance to even begin to formulate answers to his question, as Camazotz withdrew a dagger from her bejeweled girdle and slit Jack's throat. Blood gushed into the pool as he collapsed forward submerged to his waist bleeding to death. The last image before he died, again, was of a school of white larva stained pink as they swam towards him through his blood.

* * *

Aboard the cargo ship Umbra did not understand why Sam was so distraught. Daniel was still napping as where the others save for the one named Teal'c and Jacob, both were are at the controls of the amazing vessel. She had come to understand that Jacob was also Sam's father but there were two of him in one body, like the tall golden brown warrior they both had the demon serpents within them. These few quiet hours were a time when she could speak with them. There were many questions that needed to be asked and it did not seem that Sam, Janet the healer, and or Daniel were the appropriate parties to ask.

Drifting silently she moved between the two alien men. Drinking in their auras she could detect no evil as she had with Camazotz and her ilk. There was concern, love and urgency at the forefront of three of the entities yet, deep within Teal'c she could feel the young but growing evil presences that Teal'c seemed to control.

"Forgive me but I must ask." She began hesitantly. Both men turned their attention towards her.

"How may we assist you?" Teal'c was polite but one eyebrow lurched upwards.

"I do not understand how there can be two beings within one? This is one of a few questions I have. The other, though I feel may be too impertinent, but Major Carter, Samantha she is so disturbed over the fact that she and Camazotz are very similar in appearance. Why is this? And …"

"Stop right there." Jacob threw up a hand halting Umbra's potential litany of questions. He looked around to check to see if the rest of his passengers were really asleep and then to Teal'c. A subtle nod of the head and Jacob knew that he could answer honestly.

"Umbra, my daughter Samantha, well, she is in our military and is a subordinate officer to Jack, Colonel O'Neill. In our military he is her commanding officer and the two are not allowed to fraternize." Jacob began.

"Fraternize; I do not know this word." Umbra was puzzled.

"O'Neill and Major Carter can not have a relationship other than that as two warriors." Teal'c tried to explain.

"But her reactions?" I can feel…."

"Yes, it is obvious to those close to these two." It was Selmak who spoke now. The momentary glow of his eyes and the change in the timber of his voice had Umbra backing up against Teal'c.

"Jacob, my host, has closed his eyes to the realities but his daughter and the Colonel have strong feelings for each other. They must not reveal them due to the strictures of their military system. Sadly it is true they have strong feelings for each other that they may have not revealed to each other and …."

"Even to themselves they may not accept their love for each other. It is difficult for they are warriors engaged in a great battle against the Goa'uld." The final voice was that of Janet who had crept up behind all three of them. "I am their doctor and friend and I know all the symptoms. It is an easy diagnosis. "Janet tried to offer a smile but it was sad on her full lips.

"Love is very important, and I understand that there are times when one must set aside ones own desire when there are more important duties." Umbra nodded her mane of auburn hair it rustled like silk against satin. It was now time for Teal'c, Jacob and Janet to see, for the first time the heaviness that filled her burgundy eyes and colored them to a hard mahogany. Until now they had not come to understand what dangers Umbra had placed herself in all for duty to her people. She was another victim of the Goa'uld and their desire for domination in the universe. Stoically the beautiful vampire stood against a background of outer space.

A quiet descended over the cockpit and all four slipped into private thoughts and miseries.

* * *

Captain Nave clamped a hand over CJ's mouth as the five Jaffa warriors stepped from the gate. At first they thought they were Serpent guard but the helmets were odd shaped. CJ recognized it first, it was the shape of a sea horse and the staff weapons had more of a look of a trident than the form they had been acquainted with. A new Goa'uld that was all that they did not need.

Before the gate closed a final figure emerged, dressed in shimmering blue green cloth that flowed like ocean waves was the new Goa'uld. One of the Jaffa assisted the man. He was old and feeble, his skin was wrinkled and it was obvious he was dying. Whether it was the host who could no longer be regenerated via the sarcophagus or something had happened to the symbiote that was preventing the healing process was unknown but about to be answered.

"Find me a host; Camazotz has said the humans here are simple. Kree." He yelled in a voice that sounded like sand on limestone, dry and raspy.

Captain Nave assessed the situation. There were safe under cover but though there were only five between him and the Lieutenant they might be able to shoot their way out. In another situation he would have his sniper rifle and he could take out all six of the aliens before they had a chance to triangulate his position, but now he had the safety of people on this planet and CJ to worry about. The odds were not good.

There was a rustle in the woods behind them and before they could react CJ and Nave both found their Vampire companions to be kneeling next to them. They seemed almost translucent in the darkness.

"These are more of the same ilk as the one who was here?" The question was formed in both of their minds with no audible sound. There was not time to wonder over the telepathy. They responded in their minds in the affirmative.

Yurik leaned down and kissed CJ on the lips. "Your enemy is my enemy. I will not have my world subjugated again. Remain still and witness, the power that we have suppressed but now must reveal." With that Yurik and Gleninia, the Obryi who has attached herself to Nave both seemed to dissolve, only a soft wisp of air seemed to caress them.

Like three pillars of mist the three vampires appeared before the Jaffa and the Goa'uld. The Jaffa had their staff weapons at the ready and were preparing to fire when the world seemed to go mad. The three vampires were a blur of actions too fast for the three from the SGC to follow. Four of the five Jaffa seemed to be flung to one side gapping holes in their armor. The last Jaffa stood protectively in front of the Goa'uld.

Yurik materialized behind the feeble Goa'uld and grabbed him from behind.

"I will not allow you to do as the she beast that came before you did. " With those simple words Yurik twisted the neck of the alien and decapitated him. There was a gush of blood which drove Yurik back in disgust.

The lone Jaffa met a similar fate at the hands of the two female vampires. It was an act of brutality that the three had never witnessed or could have imagined. There had been a swift unmerciful efficiency to the killing. Their Vampires approached them, spattered in blood ,eyes glowing red.

Nave, Blanney and CJ came out of hiding as the three Obryi seemed to fly to them. The vampires were drinking their blood from freshly opened wounds at the bases of their already abused throats.

Word count 2197

End part 5

Friday, May 13, 2005

REVISED AND BADLY SELF BETA'D 5/25/05


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX – CRIMSON MADNESS

Jacob took a deep breath and looked over his shoulder. "We're coming into the planetary system now where Camazotz has her stronghold."

"How long Dad?" Sam asked leaning against the back of her father's seat. She let one thin long-fingered hand touch his shoulder. It was reassuring to have her father with her, though the circumstances were not conducive for daughter-father time. Jacob was a soldier, and Selmak one of the wisest of the Tok'ra, it was good to have both backing them up.

"We got about two hours. I have to keep playing cat-and-mouse with her scout ships. We're going to hide on one of the planet's moons until I can make contact with our operative." Jacob was slipping into combat mode and Selmak was smart enough to let the warrior take command.

Daniel's head lifted up, he adjusted his glasses then began to nervously finger the black cloth around his wrist. There was no pain, he had slept well, and Janet had assured him he was healthy even with the blood loss. She had given him an injection of some special concoction that she assured him would help him. Yet, his thoughts were not on the mission as much as they were on the woman sitting beside of him, Umbra.

"You know when we reach the planet it might be daylight there and..." He began sensing her tense.

"I will be alright Daniel. Though we do not walk in the daylight, for it damages our skin, sometimes irreparably, my people can take short exposure." Umbra smiled at him trying to reassure him and conceal the apprehension that was beginning to grip her. "Daniel, I must fortify myself. It has been many hours since..." Did she have to finish her statement, or did he know what she needed, wanted?

"Let's go back to the cargo area, and you can... you know, fortify yourself." Daniel stumbled with his answer not wanting to state succinctly a description of her needs. Instead he took her by the hand and led her to the most secluded area he could find, away from Major Lawrence and his marines who were attending to their armaments with suspiciously too much intent. The sound of the well-oiled slides of automatic handguns and P-90's seemed to grind through the silence that had been present.

As he sat down on a crate of medical supplies, Daniel began to unwrap the black velvet bandage from his wrist carefully. He was prepared, again, too readily perhaps, to offer it up to Umbra. Inwardly he questioned his motivation, was he just providing her the sustenance she needed or was it the euphoric and erotic experience he was desirous of?

The young woman knelt in front of him and pushed his hands away. Delicately she finished the deed, exposing the two puncture wounds. She made it quick, a lick, a kiss and she was feasting on the ambrosial wine of archeologist blood. The power-of-life, Daniel's blood, was seasoned with the bitterness of sorrow and the honey of hope. This young man had been through many trials yet endured. If these _Day Walkers,_ these Tau'ri, were strong and from the first world she was heartened that one day the Rusno could achieve such greatness with her people at their side. But deeper in her own heart she wanted Daniel to be at her side. Depending on the outcome of this mission she considered asking him to be her mate.

A throaty moan from Daniel brought her back from her thoughts of a future she knew would be denied. Daniel was in the throes of the euphoric arousal that was caused by the anticoagulant released in her saliva, along with its other properties, it produced a near narcotic affect. Umbra detected the light footstep of the Tau'ri medicine woman and realized she had forgotten herself. Had she taken too much for Daniel to recover quickly enough to complete the mission? She fell back from him onto her side, sated and admonishing herself.

Janet stepped over the female vampire, immediately attending to Daniel; blood still dripped freely from the two wounds.

"What have you done to him?" Janet snarled at her.

"Forgive me." Umbra whimpered pulling herself back to her knees and taking Daniel's hand from the woman. Methodically, and yet with a delicate touch she wrapped his wrist and reseated herself at his side. Umbra took Daniel into her arms and laid his head on her voluptuous alabaster mounds of her partially exposed breasts. Daniel curled his arms around her waist like a lover in the afterglow.

"Its okay, Janet. I 'm alright." Daniel muttered in an impotent attempt to reassure the physician. His half-closed eyes were glazed, not in pain but lust and betrayed a slight indifference to her concern, as he savored the remnant of the encounter. Daniel shifted his body so that he could kiss Umbra, oblivious to an all too apparent sign of his arousal. With the deep kiss he tasted his own blood still dewy on her lips.

"For crying out loud," Janet spat as she stalked off in disgust. Her voice was the only sound, for all eyes had been covertly watching the feeding; mesmerized, yet embarrassed, as if they had been caught watching a porn movie.

"I want you." Daniel whispered into Umbra's ear then kissed the throbbing vein in her neck.

Umbra forced him away; she could not trust her pent up passion. Daniel was too easy, too perfect. It would be a shame to see him die.

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The madness was upon him. He remembered water, drowning, and the swirling of white serpents heading towards him, of dying again. There was no memory of waking up in the sarcophagus, or of being dragged back into his cell. There was no voice or sense that he had been invaded by a symbiote, again, not like that time with Hathor. Yet, there was no healing this time; he could feel the rawness of healing flesh in a circle around his neck. There had been a dagger, a sharp pain and then the water. She had cut his throat. At least all of it seemed to be in working order. Jack tried to speak but only a raspy whisper leaked out followed by a near inaudible moaning that seemed to come from deep within his chest.

Jack recognized it, as any wounded animal would recognize its own feral sounds. He tried to remember his service number, but numbers, math were concepts too complex for him now. These things were within the domain of another, but whom? Who was that? His team? What was a team? He could not conjure up faces, or their names; those memories had abandoned him too.

An all too familiar touch made him shy away rather than welcome the sensation. It was at that moment he became aware that he was curled into a near fetal position. The awareness expanded to include a growing symbiosis with the nanocytes that had infected him through the ingestion of Camazotz's blood. It was almost like he could feel each one of them crawling around in his blood stream, seeping into his cells. They itched like microscopic chiggers.

Blood, a hunger for it arose from some dark shadow that seemed to cover any fractal of optimism; dark, ugly and demanding was the new need to feed.

Jack didn't hear the soft yet maniacal laugh, he only heard and sensed the food source that was presented to him, it was the sound of a body slapping limply against the marble floor of his cell. Without a touch he knew the body was still warm, recently killed perhaps by the use of a hand ribbon device for there was no stench of burned flesh as from a staff weapon blast. It was the copper scent of leaking blood that filled his nostrils and exacerbated the hunger. It was dinnertime and someone had ordered take-out on his behalf.

The throat, still radiating some heat, a reminder of stolen life, was soft, the skin pliant to his touch. He dared not open his eyes to witness his act of defilement. The small but scalpel sharp fangs that seemed to have grown over his own incisors tore the flesh of the dead girl's throat. Jack began to drink pulling the body like a leopard would back to his lair, the darkest corner of his cell. Weak, but ravenous for the strength giving blood he cradled the body of the dead woman in his arms as he fed. Once sated he pushed the used carcass away from him like a discarded Styrofoam carton; there was no revulsion or repugnance, there was only acceptance, and there was no more Jack to feel these emotions. Jack had been buried in a feast of blood. That which had once been him, was now a blank slate ready for Camazotz to begin to inscribe her planned destiny for the body of the man who had been repeatedly heralded as a hero, and... her sworn enemy.

Camazotz entered the cell and surveyed her handiwork. She kissed the blood-covered lips. Her new consort allowed her to straddle him; they mated in animal lust. The consummation of their union fertilized another generation of Goa'uld symbiotes in the womb of the queen Goa'uld. Jack was the sire of a new bloodline of his sworn enemy.

The Jaffa turned their backs to the scene of depravity, even with their training and code of obedience the situation had spiraled beyond the limits of their tolerance. Their great g-d had become a horror. Each bore the mark of her feeding, each held her in contempt, yet they could not take the next step, she was their g-d and this is what they had been bred to do. When Camazotz was sated and her victim exhausted into unconsciousness, they chained Jack again to his marble bed, feeling only pity for what they had once known as a formidable adversary, reduced to an honorless end.

In a day he would need to feed again and this time Camazotz would present him with his first live victim, his first kill. Then and only then would she be assured, that there was nothing left of the host.

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Hammond sipped his stale cold coffee as he continued to look at the report sitting in front of him. Janet had been thorough in her medical report from Jack's prior capture with this pseudo-vampire Goa'uld, Camazotz. In addition to the CMO's findings were the findings, recommendations and observations of Nurse O'Connor. Jack O'Neil, while stronger than any man he had fought side-by-side with, was still a man; with all the fragility inherit of being human. He had personally seen the chinks in the armor of the gallant warrior and remembered back to a night on the roof of Jack's house. The sight of the moonlight on the 9mm clutched with white-knuckled hardness, knowing how Jack had meant to use it, still frosted his soul.

They were out there somewhere searching for Jack, coming to his rescue, his team would never let him down; never again leave him behind; Hammond would not allow it, Jack was a friend, a brother, a son to him and the welfare of a member of the Air Force SGC family came first.

There was another bitter reality that he had to consider. Jack captured by a Goa'uld and made a host would be the most dangerous adversary they could face to date. While Jack, himself, would never break; having a symbiote would leave him no choice. Like any secret technology, Jack could not fall into the hands of the enemy and be used against them. He had taken Teal'c aside and given him the cold command that he could entrust to no other. The renegade Jaffa understood and had taken the order stoically, with only a sight raise of one eyebrow and the sadly whispered words, _"As it must be."_ If Jack could not be saved, he was to be eliminated. Internally Hammond wept bitter tears and howled like a madman against the twists of fate; externally he forced himself to move to his coffeemaker. The conflicted general topped off his cup with hot coffee. He had to maintain the appearance of business as usual.

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There was a heaviness that seemed to be holding her down, like soft wet cool cotton hands. There was a scent in the air of burning wood and fresh roasting meat. Hunger arrived before complete awareness; she was ravenous. CJ tried to sit up and open her eyes at the same time but the effort was too great and an onslaught of pain slammed her back onto the bed. She was in a bed, which at least was a good sign.

"Don't try to move too quickly," the voice, which filtered in through the sledgehammer that was pounding on her optic nerve, said in a soft masculine tone.

"Yurik?" CJ Croaked, her throat felt like an electric sander with ten-grit paper had attacked it.

"It is only me, Ivanyn. You are well. You and your two companions have slept for two days. The machine that you called a MALP has spoken with a faceless voice on several occasions. Master Nave has just left moments ago to go report in. I believe that is what he said." Ivanyn helped CJ into a sitting position.

"What the hell happened? There were Goa'uld coming through the gate and then Yurik and... "CJ rubbed her eyes and ran a hand through her unruly curly corn silk hair.

"Yurik brought you here, with your companions. He regrets you witnessed what you did. He was most remorseful. It is the old way..." Ivanyn paused and swallowed hard as if he was unprepared to discuss what had transpired but was fully aware of the details.

"They killed them, it was so..." The memories gushed back into her fogged mind like arterial blood spray, splattering scenes of vampirish carnage against the walls of her eyes. CJ shuddered involuntarily.

Blanney appeared at the doorway shaken and pale, this was first time she had seen the formidable Marine look so weak and scared, like a child.

"Is it night or day?" He asked in a voice that trembled.

"Night is falling again." Ivanyn commented helping CJ to her feet.

"We've got to go with Nave, I don't want him out there alone, with _them_ out there. Lieutenant, get our weapons and I want a P-90 if you have got one to spare." Gathering up her courage and utilizing the adrenalin of fear CJ took Blanney by the arm and let him lead her to their stash of weapons. She may just be a nurse but she was an Air Force Officer, and a military brat. She knew her way around armaments, and she was a crack shot. There was no leaving her fellow officer without backup.

"You want we should carve a couple of stakes before we go?" Blanney tried to crack wise.

"I don't think those things will work unless we run into Bela Lugosi or Boris Karloff and the likelihood of that is say, slim to none." She paused and thought for a moment. "Now, what would Buffy do?"

The two tottered on still wobbly legs out of the village towards the Stargate. Behind them the setting sun had turned the sky a vicious mélange of scarlet and purples.

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Jabril felt the slight twinge of the hidden communicator. He was being contacted by another Tok'ra; it would be the rescue mission he had anticipated. The Tau'ri O'Neill, however, might be too far into the dark embrace of Camazotz. He removed himself from the others who were overseeing the slaves working the mines and fields. Night was crossing the horizon in colors of ebony and purple but soon the twin moons would be up allowing enough light, barely, for the slaves to continue their work. It was not unusual for one of the Jaffa guards to separate and search for slaves who might have tried to wander off thinking darkness would conceal them.

Once in the woods he slipped the communicator from under his armor and sent a quick burst of acknowledgement. He was rewarded with a quick response and a request for coordinates for either a landing or for the party to ring down. He knew a place that was not guarded; a cliff face with spider web veins of naquedah, the presence of the raw alien mineral would block sensors and allow for a small group to be ringed down. But, they would have to wait for a least an hour when the Jaffa and the slaves were fed; again if caught, he could state he was in search of wanderers and potential victims for Camazotz and her unquenchable hunger. It had been nearly a week and his last selection of victims had been drained. The victim's bodies were bloodless carcasses hanging in cells. It was not a great plan but there was no other way he could get a rescue party into Camazotz's keep. He sent the message.

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"Jacob, it is the only way." Daniel was empathic. Sam was standing behind him giving her father one of her looks, both determined and yet hoping for his approval.

"General," Major Lawrence began, still acknowledging Jacob Carter's prior rank in the Air Force, "We have to get someone or 'someone's' inside to assess the Colonel's status. Once we know the situation. If your operative can give us backup, and we have Teal'c here inside in Jaffa armor we can make a surgical extraction. You be ready to use whatever weapons you have. "

"I will be of great assistance, Major Lawrence." It was Umbra who spoke. "My people have ways of not being seen, I will be with Daniel and Samantha every step."

"I don't like it Sam, Daniel, but we have to get him out." Jacob looked at Teal'c who had been more than his usual stoic self. There had been something about Teal'c's demeanor since he had stepped through the Stargate. The old general in him had a glimmering of an idea; while it was cold-blooded, it was a reality and a duty that only one like the Jaffa could carry out. Hammond had given him "_the order._" If he had been in the position he too would have made the same decision.

Janet was staying behind, with him hoping that the mission was successful and that Jack would be returned to them.

"Get ready to ring down. I can only chance one transport so make sure you have all your equipment." That last part was mostly for the Marines. Indeed they had brought with them boxes of C-4, claymores, and extra automatic weapons with enough ammo to hold off all but Goa'uld gliders. There was one box of rocket launchers and another of missiles. Surgical extraction his ass, there was going to be a firefight and Camazotz's Ha'tak, now grounded as her stronghold, was going to go up in a ball of fire if the Marines had their way. He found himself in a familiar role; he was driving the getaway car.

Somehow the Marines and SG-1, with their vampire, squeezed into the circumference of the ring's confines. With one last look he engaged the rings at the appropriate time.

"G-d help them." He whispered exasperated.

"It might be a good time to start praying Jacob." Janet commented slipping into the co-pilot's seat. Mentally she was running a checklist of her medical supplies. She had a mini Emergency-ICU room ready to assemble. Before she set about the task she prayed more deeply than she had in years.

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Jabril was waiting for them when they ringed down. Daniel was holding Umbra close, the ring device had startled her and she clung to him. The Marines had their weapons ready prepared for anything. The sight of Jabril in full armor, his face was exposed but his staff weapon at the ready caused them to bring their weapons to bear, cocked and on full auto.

"Are you the Tok'ra contact?" Major Lawrence demanded his P-90 pointed directly at the center of the black armor.

"I am Jabril. You are the Tau'ri?" He asked as he lowered his weapon.

Sam took a step out from behind Teal'c ready to answer. Jabril had his staff weapon raised again and went into defensive mode.

"What kind of treachery is this?" He demanded his weapon pointed directly at Sam.

"There is no deceit here," Teal'c imposed his massive body between the weapon and Sam. "Lower your weapon? We have come here to free the Tau'ri O'Neill."

"How can this be, you have the evil one with you?" Jabril refused to lower his weapon again gesturing to Sam. His eyes glowed white and his voice became that of his symbiote.

"What do you mean?' Daniel asked still holding onto Umbra who had remained silent.

"I know what he means." Sam choked out the words, her throat tightening on the reality.

"Her face is that of Camazotz, the evil one, who terrorized my world. This woman is not she." Umbra spoke in a calming whisper. "She is good and friend of the silver-haired one. He was the one who freed my world but suffered greatly by this demon's hand. We have come to repay the debt." Umbra stepped away from Daniel and approached the Tok'ra. Only Jabril saw her eyes glow red and was transfixed by the melodious voice that seemed to hypnotize him. Umbra stood next to him and touched his arm. "You need not fear us, you must help us."

The weapon was slowly and reluctantly lowered as Jabril shook his head and broke eye contact with the beautiful woman.

"What kind of being are you?" He gasped stepping away from her.

"She is a vampire, but no time for a horror movie lesson." Major Lawrence scoffed. "What is the plan? We have got to get O'Neill out of there."

"There is only one way that I can secrete anyone into the keep. Camazotz requires fresh victims. They, who I choose from the slaves, are taken into her domain and there she will feed from them, it is a slow and most hideous way to die. The ones chosen are her playthings; she tortures them. She drinks their blood. She is unmerciful." The disgust in his voice was palatable.

"Well, then I guess we are going inside." It was Daniel who spoke up.

Major Lawrence was about to protest but knew better, this was not the time or place to begin a discussion. Daniel's raised hand stopped him from uttering his objections, besides the effort would be futile and too time consuming. The plan sucked, but it was the plan they had.

"It will be a great triumph for you if you take these two, Daniel Jackson and Samantha Carter. I will accompany you. First I must secure armor." Teal'c knew that his training as a Jaffa and First Prime would help him blend into the Jaffa ranks without suspicion. Having such freedom of movement was necessary if he were forced to carry out Hammond's orders. By his hand, and his hand alone, would O'Neill die if he were found to be beyond saving. His friend deserved a swift painless death with honor if possible.

"We must go soon before it is too late. There is a symbiote that is quickly becoming ready for a host. It is her intention to implant it in your man. He is to become her consort. "Jabril knew the announcement was hard for the Tau'ri to take, but they had not witnessed the torment that the man had been put through. It was unlikely that even the strongest of Tok'ra could have withstood the level of abuse that the silver-haired Tau'ri had endured.

It had only been hours earlier today that he watched the man finally and sadly become broken. "Your warriors must be ready if we can retrieve this man." He left the words, 'If it is not too late,' unspoken. "I will provide you with a communication device that will signal you when to create a diversion. There are many Jaffa among her guard who can no longer stand to see the horrors this Goa'uld has inflicted on the innocent beings she has enslaved. I will gather them; they are ready to desert her. They have not done so yet for it riles against their training. "

"Perhaps, now witnessing these atrocities they will be willing to listen to the voice of truth and know that this Goa'uld is no g-d. I will speak with them when you have gathered them." Teal'c took a deep breath and prepared to continue his mission of freeing the Jaffa.

"I will also accompany Daniel and Samantha." Umbra reiterated. "Was not the plan to involve the Obyri for it takes one vampire to conquer another?" She didn't wait for an answer. "But I will not go as a captive, yet, I will be with you each step."

"How?" Daniel took her by the hand wondering.

"Observe," Umbra took a step into the shadows and seemed to melt into a mist and vanished.

The assembled group looked around anxiously for her, even the lights on their P-90's didn't shine on her. She had simply vanished.

"Here." Umbra stepped out of the shadows some yards away from them. She had willed them to see her again.

"No more time for parlor tricks, we have to get moving, Jack is waiting for us." Sam snapped disconcerted by the Obyri's trick, her scientific mind trying to find an explanation for it.

"But once we are inside can you keep that up or what ever?" Daniel asked Umbra as he touched her shoulder in a way to reassure himself that she was still corporeal.

"Perhaps it is better you not know, Daniel." Umbra's eyes glowed soft burgundy and there was a sad smile on her lips. She touched Daniel's forehead with gentle cool fingertips. "You will only remember what I need you to see." She whispered and Daniel, hypnotized by her eyes, nodded a slack-jawed head in agreement.

Jabril lead the small troupe to an area where had already prepared armor and other weapons. The communication devices were handed out. The small gold disk that was of Tok'ra technology was pressed into Daniel and Sam's temples. Both had endured the devices before. Jabril calibrated them and explained that they could be used as a communication device also. Anything the two spoke could be heard by a receiver that Jabril had implanted in his ear canal. He implanted another into Teal'c.

"So, we have to give you a play-by-play?" Sam asked rubbing the small disc.

"A running commentary would be necessary for us to continue to monitor your situation. You need only whisper, the mechanism is very sensitive."

"Neat." Daniel's remark was sardonic.

Teal'c, now in black Jaffa armor, let Jabril lead them on. Lawrence and his men had their Tok'ra communicators and were making plans to get as close to the grounded mothership as possible to lay their charges. They were going to make every attempt to blow the damn thing up. Weak spots were known, and from what they had already gleaned Camazotz had grown complacent, too secure in her power.

Daniel and Sam stripped to t-shirts and pants and allowed themselves to become the next meal on legs. When all was ready Jabril lead them back to the slave encampment. Before they entered the clearing, he swung the back end of his staff weapon against Daniel's head, sending him to his knees, a gash along one cheek.

"You must look like you have put up a struggle." He commented and then turned to Sam who immediately put up her fists. She was not going to be sucker punched like Daniel. Instead Jabril took his two bladed Jaffa dagger and sliced a wound over her left bicep. He had noticed she was right handed; the woman would need to have her strong arm uninjured.

Sam didn't cry out, but eyed the Tok'ra evilly; she was beginning to understand why Jack never trusted them.

"We go now." Jabril pushed Daniel ahead, Sam after him. Teal'c looked to Umbra but where she had been standing was now empty, yet he could almost feel her presence next to him; a touch, as light as a butterfly wing brushed his bare hand. It was as if she had known and the act was meant to reassure him.

Several Jaffa turned at the approaching two and let their guard down when they recognized Jabril.

"These are the chosen." Jabril pushed Daniel with his staff weapon as the Jaffa made way for them. Upon seeing Sam there was some confusion.

"Our g-d will allow no one to mock her appearance. This one dares to look like our great Queen." Jabril smoothed it over quickly his explanation seemed logical.

The Jaffa grunted and looked away. Teal'c marked them as recruits to the cause.

The pathway to Camazotz's domain was outlined in decaying bodies and skeletons, the used husks of her hunger. It appeared she was ravenous.

End Chapter Six … tbc Chapter Seven

kd³

6/9/2005 1:53 PM word count 4869


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

The stench of decay filled their nostrils and brought bile to back of their throats as they entered the lair of Camazotz, her grounded Ha'tak. Daniel and Sam fought back the urge to vomit with Herculean willpower. They had to set aside all personal considerations now and keep their minds on their goal, freeing Jack. The Marines were out of sight laying their explosives and planning their diversion. Umbra had melted like a morning mist away from them. She had assured Daniel that she would be with them every step of the way, but Sam had her misgivings. Her fear was the young vampire would turn on them. She was not sure if it was a logical distrust, a continued incredulity as to the woman's nature, quantum physics would not allow for a vampire or creatures from childhood nightmares. What that something else was she fought not to admit but she was jealous of the intimacy that Daniel and the vampire shared. This was witnessed by Daniel's display of affection, which in Sam's mind bordered on obsession.

Daniel nursed the blow to his face, the wound had begun to clot, but his face was smeared with blood. His mind, however, was not on the pain; rather it was trying to focus on Umbra. He was reaching out to her mentally trying desperately to reconnect with her, as they did when she was drinking his blood. There was no more revulsion in the act, but there was an increasing need in wanting to please her and wanting her physically. He could feel her presence, just outside of his touch or embrace. Only the mission, the rescue of Jack was stronger.

The labyrinth of corridors were paved in black stone, which rather than reflecting the light of the simulated torches placed along the walls, seemed to absorb it, sucking it into more darkness. Jaffa guard patrols seemed to only give the new arrivals a quick perusal, until they glazed upon Sam. Even the normally implacable warriors were taken aback. Confused, some bowed their heads nervously.

"Kree!" Teal'c spat out and slapped one of the befuddled with the backend of his staff weapon. "Be about your duties." A not so gentle shove with the weapon sent the Jaffa back into formation. The others nervously continued on their way.

Jabril, in the lead, brought them to a room that only could be described as a hall of atrocities. Along the wall there were several bodies chained in niches, dead, dying or in various states of decay. Sam and Teal'c remembered this scene from the Rusno's planet where Camazotz had first captured Jack. It was no less horrific and there were two empty niches waiting. More footsteps and two Jaffa arrived with four more selections; in all there were six offerings to the blood drinking Goa'uld. Teal'c pushed Sam behind him and half shielded her from the others. Her resemblance to Camazotz could work for or against them, but until Camazotz arrived or a selection was made he would, for now, protect Samantha Carter.

Umbra, still unseen, made herself part of the shadows, she could only cloud so many minds at one time. She continued the effort but the smell of blood called to her suppressed hungers from the ancient days when her people would feed without compunction, deeming any mortal as a meal. Her telepathic connection with Daniel was weak but she reached out, touched his mind, and offered a simple reassurance, "I am here." His response was limited to a brief image of carnal bliss. In some ways it shook her. Daniel's passion for her was deep; she absorbed it and devoured it, savoring the emotions as strength.

Suddenly, the other Jaffa seemed to come to attention. Approaching footsteps announced the arrival of their bloodthirsty g-d; their rigidity betrayed their forced acceptance of her sanguinary ways. Her first prime, dressed in black armor, with a flowing blood red cape stepped into the room. He appraised the offerings silently.

"Kree! Bow to your g-d, Camazotz." He bellowed and the captives were forced to their knees, encouraged by blows from staff weapons on the back of their legs or hands on their shoulders forcing them down. The room grew still, even the occasional moan from the half-dead human wall hangings faded.

Camazotz sauntered into the room. Adorned in a transparent russet silk tunic, her female figure was in full view; the cloth seemed only to enhance every seductive curve of her body. Her corn silk blond hair cascaded down her back and slim hips. From her shoulders a train of black velvet seemed to float like sooty smoke. Her face was a stark contrast to her lasciviousness, a creamy faultless complexion that an innocent maiden would possess, with her bright blue eyes and soft full pink tinted lips. Her eyes glowed white and the smile that broke over her face was anything but comforting as two yellowed long fangs were revealed.

Sam forced herself to steal a glance and was paralyzed with shock, which even robbed her of the ability to think. Her demonic doppelganger stood before her.

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The remains, his meal, had been removed. He had been chained again but this time he was only shackled at the wall and given enough chain to move about. A sudden intense pain hit his stomach with as much force as a staff weapon blast. The gush of blood traveled at light speed from his guts and past his lips. His "meal" was not digesting; his body was rejecting the blood. Given that he had not recalled being provided any food during his entire captivity he felt a renewed hunger, yet, was there revulsion too?

Jack's body was covered in blood; the small white loincloth he had been provided was sodden. He shivered from weakness. There was no going into a sarcophagus for him. The need for more blood, fresh warm blood was greater than the disgust. A memory tried to pierce the bloodthirsty need; he could hear a voice in some foreign language asking him over and over to detail his mission. Somewhere In the crimson colored madness he recognized the language as Farsi. A voice of a prior tormentor from a time lost, devoured by DNA rearranging nanocytes. Yet, it was something, a slender thread perhaps, to his unraveled identity. A new need grew, a need for an identity or the restoration of one. A name would be good, even that seemed to have been stripped from him. Two Jaffa entered his cell. He had come to recognize them.

"Your Queen requires you to be prepared. She is choosing your first victim as we speak." The pronouncement was delivered in a flat tone, there was no betrayal of emotion on any level and that in it's self was the tell. The Jaffa had lost his obedient indifference, a chink in his black armor revealed.

Jack took notice, not in a tactical manner but in way of a feral animal that senses weakness.

They took him by the arms and brought him to another chamber. Here he was washed, his beard shaved, anointed in soothing oils, and dressed in a black linen loincloth in the style of a Pharaoh, with a belt of black onyx and gold with a large buckle in the shape of a bat. Even his manacles were upgraded to a finely hammered trinium. In spite of the finery the abuse to his body was evident in lash marks, the healing scar where his throat had been cut, the ragged flesh at his wrists and ankles from restraints and lastly the look of cold emptiness in his chocolate eyes. He had always been lanky, but now he was gaunt, his weeks without real food had caused his body to devour his fat reserves and when that was consumed it began on muscle. His death was incremental.

A new cell had been prepared for him, this one just off Camazotz's throne room. Manacled to the wall he waited. Jack drifted off to sleep or passed out, it didn't matter which, he was unconscious, but in that darkness he thought he saw a woman of pale skin and hair the color of fire, whose eyes seemed to glow burgundy, for a brief moment he felt peace and no longer empty.

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The Goa'uld Queen surveyed the offerings. Meager pickings, they were slaves and their vitality had been beaten out of them with the backbreaking work of the mines. A fresh infusion of blood was needed. One slave, caught her interest, he was not dressed as the others. He was young with hair the color of a sandy beach and eyes the color of blue gemstones. Young and handsome and would have much fresh blood for her. She pointed to him. Her First Prime grabbed the man by the arm, pulled him to his feet, and presented him to his mistress.

"I am your g-d. Your purpose for living is now to provide me with the sustenance I need, and the pleasure I desire." Her voice curled around each inference. She stepped in front of him, ran a hand over his chest, and touched the bruised cheek. Her fingertip was wet with his blood and she took it to her lips and licked with a pointed pink tongue at the scarlet smear.

"Delightful. He will be first." Camazotz punctuated her sentence by raking her talon-like nails over Daniel's chest tearing the material of his black t-shirt and cutting into his chest. To Daniel's credit he winced, but kept from emitting anything more than a moan that died behind his lips. His bravery was tested again as two guards took him and hung him in the closest empty niche. The guard manacled his arms straight out to each side and his ankles to the floor and with two violent and powerful yanks they pulled Daniel's black t-shirt completely off. Naked to the waist Daniel hung helpless and exposed his wounds bled more profusely from the new insult.

Exposed to the waist Daniel was helpless. This was the first time he had come into contact with Camazotz, well other than Jack there was no one with them who had, and lived to tell of prior encounters. Her resemblance to Sam was cruelly exact, it was as if there were two Sams, one good, one evil and this vision surpassed any horrors they had previously encountered at the hands of a Goa'uld. In her magnificent malevolence she was the embodiment of evil beauty, even Sha're, as Amaunet, would not have surpassed Camazotz's beauty. He now understood why Jack had reacted to Sam as he had after he had escaped the first time. Jack's affection for Sam was always just below the surface, held in check by the cumbersome restraints of military protocol. To have been and to be tortured by someone who bore the face of the one you loved was inconceivable and too barbarous, he knew the feeling and remembered all too painfully how Teal'c had saved his life by killing Amaunet taking what was left of Sha're with her.

All these thoughts and images ran through his mind in milliseconds but long enough for him not to see what happened next. Camazotz was on him. A jeweled dagger was buried in his shoulder. He screamed in agony as she let the blood flow into a goblet, once filled she put it to her lips and drank. When the goblet was empty she licked her lips and placed them against the still flowing wound. Her fangs tore at the flesh. Daniel's knees buckled. Her hand slipped between his legs and squeezed his manhood through the course material of his fatigues. Despite the pain, he was aroused.

"It is a pity I already have a mate, or you might be acceptable. As it is, you will be delicious to devour, I may even eat your flesh and share the delicacy of it with my love." Camazotz kissed Daniel on the lips, her breath fetid with his blood. Thankfully, Daniel passed out.

Sam tried to push past Teal'c, but the Jaffa held her back. Tears of anger and sorrow burned her eyes. Somehow she managed to whisper a few words for the running commentary. Her action drew unwanted attention.

Camazotz handed off the now empty goblet to her first prime. Her eyes found and hooked into Sam's.

"What is this defilement? Am I being mocked?" The rage in her voice was a volcanic rumble, deep and building to eruption. Her eyes glowed like white coals.

Teal'c had no choice but to bring Sam forward. The two stood face to face in a room hushed to a gelid stillness.

"It is you, the woman in his mind." Camazotz whispered for Sam's ears only. "He is mine now and will be my mate. He has already sired another generation within my womb." Her words were cruel and meant to slice through the heart that she could see pined for the silver-haired one.

"Where is he?" Sam hissed.

"You will see him soon enough." There was a pause as a plan formed in Camazotz's mind. This would be his first kill and it would prove to her that her captive was ready to take the final steps and become a host and her mate. "Your blood will taste even more pure as it is flavored with your love and spiced with the realization that you have lost, "Camazotz stroked Sam's cheek and pulled her face down to her and pressed a kiss to her lips. With a hideous laugh the Goa'uld Queen licked her lips and regaled in the revulsion that twisted Sam's face. Then, in a sudden flash she ran her talons over Sam's neck opening four gashes.

Teal'c controlled himself as he had never before. One staff blast and he could kill the Goa'uld before she could do any harm to his companions. But there was no telling which Jaffa would follow him in a revolt. He needed time to gather ranks but it appeared he did not have the luxury. Camazotz motioned to the other captives and was speaking to Jabril. Teal'c had to bring his attention back to the immediate.

"These others will do, chain them and have the carcasses removed. I will start fresh with these three. The woman will be your new g-d's first. Bring him." Camazotz ordered Jabril in his guise as Kela't, as she sat down on her throne in the center of the room. "Jaffa," she was directing her attention at Teal'c. "Stand with the woman but do not interfere. I would see his behavior. "

Daniel was slowing dragging himself back into consciousness. Blood seeped from his wound and the pain seemed to invade his entire body. Yet, there was a touch on his forehead, here in this shadowed niche, and he could feel a body press against his back. "I am with you." He heard the words, but were they spoken or did he just imagine them inside of his mind? The weight of a soft hand and the familiar scent of Umbra reassured him that however the words had been transmitted to him she was there, with him. His wound seemed to begin to heal, or at least the pain lessened as soft lips touched his.

Umbra had indeed touched Daniel and stood nearby him, absorbing the shadows into herself becoming one with them until she too was nothing more than a shadow. The way of her people, powers long unused, revisited. She was the healing woman of her clan, as had been her mother, taught at her mother's knees in the deepest recesses of the caves they had made their homes. This ability to "cloak" herself had been nurtured, developed for protection, yet it drained her. The need for blood, food, nourishment was beginning to manifest itself. She would need to feed. The temptation to drink from Daniel was overwhelming especially now that his blood ran free from a wound. The scent of blood filled her nostrils and awoke the darkness that her people had never been able to overcome. It was taking all of her concentration to prevent being exposed and holding the beast within at bay.

A Jaffa seemed to look in her direction straining to see into the shadow and for a moment he tensed thinking he had perceived a movement or shape, then convincing himself he had not. Umbra had clouded his mind, adding to the drain

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In the antechamber, the two Jaffa that stood guard over Jack were conspiring in low tones. Camazotz's first prime had recruited them when they were young warriors on the losing side. They had both been with Chronos and his death had left them at the mercy of the next g-d. The Goa'ulds were not kind to losers. Yet, had they really made the right decision to ally themselves with this Goa'uld?

They had watched several of their brethren being bleed to death, or tortured for this bloodthirsty queen. She was without mercy; she was without honor. Their continued loyalty was tested and now at a straining point. The legend of the Shol'va, who had defied Apophis, had managed to even infiltrate their ranks. A growing cadre of fellow warriors had sprung up from the overwhelming fear and disgust engendered by their mistress' depraved actions. At any moment Camazotz could chose one of them for her grotesque needs. She held the Jaffa code of honor with distain and laughed at any mention or implication that anyone but herself was to be considered anything but her personal fodder.

A new hope had entered their world when the Jaffa Kela't had joined their ranks. He had garnered favor with the mad queen and her first prime immediately. At first he was feared and it was thought that he was plotting to vie for the position of first prime himself, but that fear was soon allayed when he sought out the disgruntled and began to gather them. His words and actions spoke of a return to honor and the possibility of something they had never known- freedom. Other than the obvious power of Camazotz, their only other impediment was their brethren Jaffa, some of whom had been in her service generation after generation. Many were too blind to her horrors, other in too much fear, all with linked with the common bond of ignorance and inbred servitude

Kela't had spoken of the Tau'ri, those who had come from the first world, whose seeds were sown through the heavens and were their own forebearers. They had witnessed the bravery of the one who was now their prisoner, this one called O'Neill, a Tau'ri, whom they had been led to believe was their enemy. His strength and defiance had not gone unnoticed. His suffering, more heinous than they had witnessed before, was brutal beyond their conception. And yet they had not intervened and guilt had encrusted their souls. Shame weighed heavy on shoulders breed to carry the world. Apprehension gnawed at them for even the great Tau'ri warrior had not defeated the Goa'uld; however, he had not been turned into a g-d yet. Was there hope?

The two came to attention upon hearing approaching footsteps.

Jabril proceeded to the antechamber where Jack had been left chained to the wall. It sickened him to see what the Tau'ri had been reduced to, the 'great Jack O'Neill,' leader of the famous SG-1, sucked dry and tortured by a Goa'uld queen until he had been reduced to this current state, emaciated and standing on the very threshold of insanity and death. He could not allow this to continue. A nod of his head to the two Jaffa who stood guard spoke volumes. Jabril had seen it in their eyes, and could read their hearts. No longer would they submit to this Goa'uld queen for she had made a travesty of their code of honor, she was a beast, an unholy monster that could not be considered a g-d.

Jack was unchained and without struggle taken to the throne room. The once proud warrior had been reduced to an empty shell waiting for a symbiote. His eyes were lifeless and his soul so cowed it took refuge in some remote corner of his mind, no longer able to resist.

Jabril, in the lead with the two Jaffa guards flanking their charge, entered the throne room. In this configuration, full view of Jack was obstructed. Camazotz, who had draped herself over her throne, now stepped down and pushed past Jabril. Jack stood wooden and vacantly stared at her. Leaning into him she pressed her body against his, he sagged but her hands wantonly encircled him, steadying him. She pressed her lips roughly against his, parting them and exploring his mouth. There was moment of hesitation before he began to respond, initially without passion. Camazotz trailed further kisses down his neck and licked the angry red scar before she sank her fangs into him. Jack wavered, impaled on her hideous fangs, infested with nanocytes he moaned in a damning mixture of pain and pleasure. This beautiful creature was touching him, wanting him, arousing him again, as only she could; resistance was futile under her knowing ways. She had befuddled his mind to the point he could no longer measure time or cared too. Her mouth touched his, with his blood and he licked it from her lips. Hunger awoke, but was accompanied by a suggestion of revulsion. Camazotz rubbed her thigh against his growing erection a cruel smile on her wet lips as then she maneuvered him to face her new captives.

"A present for you my beloved, your first kill, take her any way you wish." Camazotz intoned in a molasses snug sweet voice. She stood behind him; hands still wrapped around his waist and urged him forward until he was within arms reach of Sam.

The sight of their friend and comrade-in-arms and the condition that he had deteriorated to, brought gasps to Sam and the newly awakened Daniel. Tears began to flow freely from their eyes. They had seen Jack in many states of injury and illness but what stood before them was nothing less than a living ghost, his appearance harkened back to newsreel images from WWII and the liberation of the death camps.

"My g-d, Jack!" Daniel gasped out. There was no acknowledgement or any indication that he had been heard. The young scientist strained against his restraints causing more damage to himself and reopening his wounds.

"That is correct I am your new g-d as he will soon be." Camazotz chortled from her throne. "Once he has received his symbiote we will return to the system lords and regain our place among them. I will be their queen for I am the child bearer and this one is the father of the next generation."

Daniel gasped audibly, remembering Hathor and how she had been a queen Goa'uld. He had been the donor of the DNA on that occasion, and while his knowledge of the Stargate and the SGC had been important, the knowledge that Jack possessed was critical to the safety of the SGC and more significant, Earth and all of its allies. Jack's collected memories shared with the larval Goa'uld; this has suddenly become more than a rescue mission. Daniel stole a glance towards the helmeted Jaffa he knew to be Teal'c. Over the years he had come to read his slightest body language. Upon hearing Camazotz's announcement there was a slight stiffening to the iron spine of his Jaffa comrade. Teal'c had immediately absorbed the announcement and all of its implications and had not realized his knuckles had whitened with a death grip on his staff weapon.

"O'Neill." Teal'c sighed with the confines of the Jaffa helmet. His Jaffa heart felt as if he it was being constricted by some unseen hand so great was the sorrow for his friend. He felt himself lurch forward but camouflaged the movement by grabbing Sam by the arms. Teal'c felt her tense and then slump at her first sight of her commanding officer. With Camazotz's announcement, if they were unable to rescue O'Neill, his course of actions was clearly delineated; O'Neill and any larva containing his DNA had to be destroyed, utterly.

Sam saw no recognition in those chocolate brown eyes that she used to swim in across the conference table or a campfire on some new world. These were dead eyes. Jack only began to react when his eyes made contact with the blood that oozed from her wounds. At first it was a sniff, then a dry tongue ran across lips that had been split from beatings, lastly it was the eyes, those dead eyes seemed to flicker for a moment as they came to rest on the blood. He took a step towards her.

Before him stood another vision of his lover, captor, and torturer, oddly dressed and with hair short, something about her apparel seemed familiar. He remembered the same clothes, every day, sometimes blue not green, in his own hands, on his body. Even this wisp of a memory could not overcome the scent. It was the smell of blood, fresh blood, fresh clean pure blood, the fluid of life that made him move. There was only the objective of tearing into the alabaster neck of the living woman before him. He had been told over and over that they just existed for him to feed from, like so much cattle. Within his chest he could feel his heart quicken, both from the enticement of nourishment and his own low blood volume. His heart was working incredible hard to keep him alive.

His mouth touched the neck wounds, his lips felt the warm stickiness of blood, and his tongue tasted and savored the first drops. He lapped up the blood, his arms now holding the trembling female against him. Her nipples were hard against his sunken chest even through the material of her t-shirt. One hand dipped to caresses one of the breasts, felt the weight of it. He had wanted this for so long, to touch her this way, he needed her, was ready to give it up for her, just for a taste of her. He wanted to taste of all of her, to feel her sexual pleasure flow onto his tongue as he laved her most exquisite female folds and pressured her tented pleasure button to waves of realized passion. He moved his blood-covered mouth to her lips and pressed, his tongue found another to fence with and his thrusting was answered and accompanied by a tremor through her lithe body.

"Oh Colonel, no please," were the words of supplication mouthed into his. Words that meant nothing to him, that meant everything to him.

"Colonel?" he whispered against her neck between licks and slipping a hand between her legs to begin giving her pleasure. His mouth moved to the wound on her arm and kissed the coagulating blood causing the wound to reopen. It tasted different, not the spiced honey of Camazotz. This was honey and wild grass, clean and untainted. He moved his lips back to the neck wounds. The nanocytes within him urged him on and he sunk his small fangs into the wounds. Blood erupted into his mouth and he drank. His lips suctioned to her neck.

"Jack, please no, it's me Sam, Carter." Sam gasped as he pressed his thumb against the rough material covering her crotch. "Colonel!" She screamed as the fangs tore into her neck.

"Jack, it's Sam, it's Carter!" Daniel screamed and was immediately backhanded into silence.

There was a moment's hesitation, "Carter?" Jack lifted his lips from her throat and looked confusedly into her eyes.

"Carter?" He questioned again in a voice Sahara dry. His brow furrowed with the strain of dragging memories back from the gray limbo they had been stored at.

"Please, sir, we came to save you." Rivers of her tears mingled with the lakes of blood.

"What is this?" Camazotz snarled from her throne. "Finish her my love and then become one with me. Feast of her, prove you are mine."

"Finish it…" Jack mumbled, "Yeah, finish it." He looked over his shoulders at his Goa'uld Queen. "Finish it," he repeated with a newfound strength to his voice.

"We have a rescue…" Sam tried to whisper in his ear.

"Too far gone...finish it here and now," Jack began to crumple in Sam's arms. Even drinking some of her blood had not restored him and he felt it rising up his throat again. Seeing her face, the real face of the love of his life, had brought him back. The thought came to him, his team had not forgotten him, and they had not left him behind.

"OH g-d no sir," Sam sobbed plaintively.

"Kill me! That's an order, can't stop it, changing. Kill me." It was a plea wrapped in an order. Jack raised his eyes and looked at the Jaffa that stood behind Sam. He knew or sensed who it was. "DO IT!" It was a scream. Then he plunged his fangs into Sam's virgin throat again the nanocytes sensing they were losing and tried to grab control. Jack pushed Sam backwards into Teal'c, one hand snaked out and grabbed the double-bladed Jaffa dagger.

"Kree!" Camazotz had been watching and she knew she was losing him, he would never make that final step. The ribbon device was raised. She would kill her lover and perhaps start again with the new one, chained to her wall.

"NO! This will not happen!" It was Umbra; materialized from the shadows, she had placed herself in front of Camazotz. The Jaffa, though startled, did not raise their weapons to the flame-haired intruder. "You are a desecrations and an abomination. You killed my mother!" The voice was low and like thick smoke.

Camazotz engaged the ribbon device directly at Umbra who fell to her knees. Daniel screamed. Sam seemed frozen, Teal'c tried to reach around her, but Jack was surprisingly strong and quick.

It had to be done; there was only a second left of strength, or remembering who he had been and knowing what he was becoming. In his one last moment of lucidity he plunged the knife into his own chest. Jack knew how to kill, and he tried to push the blade up but Sam's hands stopped him. While it was not a clean quick kill he was dying, for the last time and could live with that.

"Blow it all up... snakelets... a pool of them... with my DNA." He moaned as he slipped down Sam's body. Blood covered his face and now gushed from his chest wound, the dagger, buried to the hilt still protruded from his skeletal torso.

Seeing her love taking his own life distracted Camazotz for an instant and gave Umbra the opening she needed. Her actions were too fast; Umbra was on the Goa'uld with vengeance to power her. The two women were entangled.

Umbra's face contorted, no longer the face of a gentle woman but that of an enraged Vampire. Her fangs were long, her eyes glowed coal red. Camazotz continued to try to bring her hand device to bear but Umbra had her pinned against her throne. With the howl of a demon Umbra smashed Camazotz's head against the onyx structure. Stunned, Camazotz went limp and Umbra transformed into a giant wolf. The beast's fangs tore at the white throat, blood gushed over its muzzle as it tore the spine in two. The white glowing eyes faded as both symbiote and host died, the host decapitated.

The head fell out of the mouth of the black wolf as it morphed back into the vampire. Umbra's face, still a visage of horror, picked up Camazotz's head and stood at the top of the dais holding it for all to see like some Nosferatu Perseus who had just slain the Gorgon Medusa. The only sound in the room was the raspy wet breathing of the mortally wounded Jack.

Teal'c, while his first instinct was to go to Jack, had a more immediate priority. He retracted his helmet and revealed himself to the stunned Jaffa.

"My brothers your false g-d is dead, slain at the hands of these humans. Put down your arms and follow me to freedom. No more will you be enslaved and forced to suffer." Teal'c began his oration in a stentorian voice.

"No more will you be victims to this blood-thirsty beast and her ilk. You will no longer have to watch or suffer her evil ways." Jabril joined in with Teal'c to show a united front.

"Regain your honor and taste freedom." Teal'c bellowed. "Free yourself and the slaves." With a nod he turned the rest over to Jabril and now set his attention to Jack.

Sam was cradling Jack in her lap. There was still some life but the blood that stained his lips now was no longer Sam's but his own blood, what precious drops he had left. His eyelids lifted slightly and his eyes glanced to Teal'c and Sam. The dying would be easy now in the company of the two people he loved the most.

"Colonel, hold on, we can ring you out." Sam managed to choke through tears.

"Let me die, have to…" Jack coughed up blood, "Can't fix this Major."

The Jaffa who had guarded Jack shook themselves from their daze and turned their weapons on her first prime. Twin blasts from their staff weapons removed the last obstacle. They turned their attention to the slaves and Kela't who now revealed himself as Jabril of the Tok'ra. He had their full attention.

Umbra, no longer the center of attention, took two tentative steps down from Camazotz's throne and approached Daniel. With each step her visage returned to the beauty that Daniel had first met. She dropped Camazotz's head and let it roll in front of him. She freed him from his shackles and before he could be torn between seeing to her or rushing to Jack's side Umbra collapsed in his arms.

"The blood, it is poison." Were the words that drifted from her lips before she slipped into unconsciousness.

"We will ring him to Jacob Carter and Dr. Fraiser." Teal'c reassured the distraught Sam even as the death rattle began to clatter from Jack's chest. He lifted Jack into his arms and carried him to the ring transporter circle in the floor. Daniel was there carrying Umbra. Sam ignored her wounds and grabbed one of Jack's still warm hands. The ring transporter engaged carrying the undead and the dying to safety.

End part Seven

6/19/2005 6:11 PM

wc 5765 6/26/2005 8:59 PM 1revision

wc 5790 6/30/2005 11:19:49 PM revision 2


	8. Chapter 8

8

CRIMSON MADNESS

PART EIGHT

Blood there was blood everywhere, it seemed no one that ringed up was without some wound or blood covered. Janet had seen devastation and even massacres before but the injuries to SG1, those people who were the closest friends and loved ones in her life almost caused her to lose her professional detachment. She pushed personal feelings aside and kicked triage into high gear.

Jack was in the worse shape. The Jaffa dagger still protruding from his chest. His condition was complicated by his emaciated condition. Jack looked worse then the photos she had seen of him after four months in an Iraqi prison. He looked like someone who had just been pulled out of the gas chambers at Auschwitz before the Zyclon gas had been released. There was a vacant look in his eyes and she was amazed that he was even able to focus in on her, if for a fleeting second.

Sam's neck was bloody and she had a gash on one arm, she could wait. Daniel had a shoulder wound that was bleeding but he was holding the unconscious figure of the Vampire woman Umbra. She could see no particular injuries to the woman so she too would have to wait.

Jack had been gently laid down on the makeshift medical bed that they had brought with them. Janet had to stop the bleeding first. She was not a field surgeon but she knew she was the only one equipped to get the bleeding under control.

"Dad?" Sam looked at her father as she began to crumble into his arms.

"That's my girl" Jacob whispered reassuringly as he held her upright. He had the foresight of having a hand held healing device ready.

"No, the Colonel, Jack, needs it more than I do." Sam sobbed looking over at Janet and Jack. Janet had removed the Jaffa blade and was instructing Teal'c in hanging the first of many bags of O negative blood that she would be pumping into Jack.

Daniel and Sam tried to do their own first aid though they were watching Janet and Jacob working over Jack, one in bloody hands on way and the other with a nearly magical healing device.

Umbra, who had been settled down in her dark corner, was stirring and had managed to come to Daniel's aid. While she had always been alabaster in her skin tone, Umbra appeared so pale that she was almost transparent. Umbra knew what she could do, there were ways to heal the human but she was unsure if she should show them this ability. She doubted if she had the strength to do it. Instead she opted to use the simple ways that had been provided, bandages and human medicines.

"The blood, his blood is poison." She told Daniel simply as she pressed a thick wad of gauze to the dagger wound. He needed stitches. For now the bandage would have to suffice, until the healing woman, Janet, could tend to him properly. With concealed concentration and effort she pushed forth a fraction of her healing powers. Doing so would weaken her but it was just enough to prevent the wound from bleeding further. The stream of energy went unnoticed.

"Can you do anything for him?" Daniel asked wincing in pain, but noticed and easing as his concern was directed towards Jack. .

"There is nothing to do; the bad blood must be removed from his system completely. I fear that I will be ill myself from the taste of it from killing that demon. " Within her own stomach Umbra could feel what little blood she had tasted churning like acid.

"What are you saying? Total blood volume replacement?" Janet called over having heard what Umbra said.

"There is no other way. The poison that swims within him, must be completely eradicated. I have seen this with my own eyes, this poisoning. The demon, Camazotz, she poisoned some of my own people. They died painfully and with a madness. As to the Russno those that were not drained of blood, used for her evil feasting, if they managed to escape also died of madness. They felt as if they were possessed." Umbra explained simply remembering the seizures and suffering of her own people, those that she had been unable to cure herself.

"I don't have enough blood for that, even if I got donors. The colonel will not survive it." Janet had to tell them the truth, she had little hope for Jack .

"Okay, doc. Let me go." The whisper was so low she had not realized she had heard it. Jacob had and he leaned closer to Jack's mouth. The Goa'uld hand device had only been able to stop the bleeding but could not heal Jack.

"Jack, you got to hang in there, that's an order I still out rank you." Jacob tried to cajole the dying man.

"No, let me go… Can still feel the nanocytes, like before, losing this one." Jack's eyes were closed but he reached out a skeletal hand and touched the father of the woman he loved, the one he had tried to kill.

"Colonel, we will figure out a way." It was Janet; she was brushing his unruly hair off his forehead.

"No, if you can't get them out of me, "Jack gulped and suddenly convulsed in pain, pain that his famished body could not continue to bear. The guttural groan of agony that escaped his lips shot through everyone assembled. It was the agonized sound his imminent death, the sound of rusted iron chains rattling on the creaking gates of a cemetery. What precious little blood Jack had bubbled up into his throat and mouth, dripping from his dry lips.

"The Nox." Daniel yelled out. "They brought us back from the dead when we first met them. They could might be the only ones who save Jack."

"Dad, can you get us to them? Can you contact them, as a Tokra they would listen wouldn't they?" Sam was desperate and no longer hiding the tears.

"Let me see what I can do. I can plot a course for their planet. Gate travel would be more efficient." Jacob moved to the pilots seat.

"I don't know how much longer I can keep him alive. The Colonel doesn't want to live any more." Janet had walked up behind Jacob. Sam and Daniel were now standing with him.

"Leave immediately. I will return to the planet surface and assist Jabril in establishing a new order of free Jaffa. We will see to the freedom and restoration of this planet and any captive will be returned to their home worlds. Doctor Frazier I know you will succeed in maintaining O'Neill's life." With that Teal'c went to the rings and signaled for Jabril to transport him down. As much as it ripped through him like a staff blast to leave O'Neill there were other priorities and the mission was better served with him staying on the planet. He was no help for his best friend and fallen comrade.

Jack could hear them, his team talking about him, Teal'c going off to be the Spartacus of the Jaffa, Jacob and Janet futzing over him. He didn't want it, he wanted to die. The pain, the mental pain, this time was totally different from Iraq, it couldn't be compared. They had beat him, the torture he could take but Camazotz had nearly changed him, caused him to kill, no murder in cold blood for food and he had almost willingly, no check that gladly would have killed Sam and drank her dry of her blood. The madness, her disease had taken him over, how could he face any of them, go back to walking through the gate with them after this? Could they ever trust him again? He just wanted to sleep, forever.

Jack coughed up blood and convulsed. What light was before him was gone he was slipping deep into a coma, a guilt and apathy induced coma. No nightmares of Camazot came to his mind, but he felt a soft hand on his shoulder, a breath of a whisper on his ear. "Don't go dad."

Janet was checking Jack's blood pressure which was dangerously low, nearly non-existent when he mumbled one word. She knew the name, the Colonel's dead son. She knew the story. If Jack was seeing his son, she couldn't consider the possibility.

"Jacob we don't have much time!" Janet called out. She did not fail to see the look on Daniel's and Sam's faces.

Umbra, weak and doing her best to fight off the effects of the tainted blood, began to gather her strength. It was a difficult task, Daniel was avoiding her eyes. Could she blame him? No, he had witnessed the dark part of her, the inner demon, the creature that filled the legends of his world and brought it to reality. Her heart had melted for the sandy haired human, now it felt as if it has cracked open rather then thawed.

Umbra had begun to fall in love with the wise stranger. The taste of him was in her mouth, her mind and her heart. She wanted him physically, to drink his blood while they coupled. Daniel would know pleasure as he had never experienced it, and she would have her long desired soul mate. But he hated her, even feared her now. Umbra had to find a way to redeem her. There was one way but would these humans understand. Umbra made her way back to Jack's side, Janet was next to her.

"There is a way of my people that might help the silver haired one, but I fear it will be…" She hesitated.

"What is it Umbra?" Janet reached out for the vampires. "You have to do what you can till we can get him to the Nox."

"You must understand that it is the very way she, Camazotz, began to turn him?"

Unconsciously Umbra was rubbing the inside of her left arm; the vein with her rich blood was pulsing there. "I would have to feed him; he would have to drink my blood."

Janet kept her professional face in place while her stomach twisted in a ball at the idea and hearing herself mouth the words; "do what ever it takes."

Umbra placed her forearm to her lips her fangs extended and slipped into her own flesh. The taste of her own blood was welcome. Umbra pressed it against Jack's parched lips. His eyelids fluttered and for a moment he focused on her.

"Please no..." Jack focused on Janet. She had seen the look before when he knew or had thought he was dying.

"I am not losing you, damn it Jack! "

"I got a hold of the Nox. We can be there in eight hours, if I push it for everything I can." Jacob called back over his shoulder.

"Floor it." Daniel snapped.

Eight hours, Daniel looked at Sam and watched her cry silently. The walking wounded looked silently at their fallen leader and commiserated in silence. The vampire curled up in the darkest corner and closed her eyes and could still see the visions of her madness, the killing, and how it had felt so lavacious. Jack fell into the darkness of his approaching death with the taste of blood on his lips.

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Blood, the taste of warm, thick rich live giving blood on his lips again. This blood has such a different taste to it. It was not the spiced honey flavored he had drank from Camazotz, nor the victims she had thrown him like scraps to mongrels roaming so third world street. Jack, licked his parched lips savoring every drop of this new blood, it tasted old but not fouled, old like a fine red wine, the bouquet dancing over his tongue. For a moment he let himself be lost in the enjoyment how the pain seemed to disappear for a moment. The realization of what he was doing imploded in his mind; the fluid vitality lurched from his gut and dripped from the corners of his mouth.

Janet was at his side as was Sam. Sam's tears came silently as she watched Janet wipe away the slurry of blood that dripped down Jack's face. The face, the face she loved so much and could not have; could not have to touch freely, to run her fingers though the silvered hair, to feel her lips against his. The look on that face when he had first entered Camazotz's throne room, there had been no recognition of her. Sam also remembered when that recognition had come. There was horror in Jack's eyes an emotion she had never seen in the coffee colored eyes.

Those eyes opened for a moment and looked into her cornflower blue eyes and begged forgiveness before he began to spasm.

Janet pushed Sam out of the way and grabbed for her med kit. Ativan would ease the seizure but could kill him because it was a tranquilizer. She needed Jack to hold on hold on for another few hours until they could get to the Nox.

Umbra offered her cut flesh again, making it bleed, but Jack refused even in this fragile condition he had the dignity and stubbornness to refuse.

Jack settled back down, his vital signs marginal but he seemed to be resting and clenching onto what tress of life he had left. The cargo ship became silent, only the sound of seven people breathing echoed minutely against the gold walls in the darkness of space.

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The news had filtered back to CJ, Captain Nave and Sergeant Blaney, who had been fending off demands for status reports from a rather unrelenting General Hammond. They had little to offer until the cryptic communication came from Jacob Carter; Jack had been rescued, the Goa'uld killed, the Jaffa and slave labor was being freed. SG1 was now on its way to the Nox. No information was provided as the reason for the detour. Hammond was barely satisfied with the news.

C.J. looked at Nave who felt like he had just had his ass whupped with switch out behind the woodpile. She empathized. Between the two of them they had been taking turns give the General their 24 hour updates. The Sergeant had managed to luck out due to his rank. There had been no more Goa'uld visits or any attempts to dial in other than those from the SGC. This was something both of them could be happy about.

With her eye as a nurse, CJ checked out Nave's condition. The Obryi were not draining them of so much blood each night but it was taking its toll. She would get them some B12 and Iron shots when they got back to the inn which was now their makeshift headquarters. The information they had gathered on the Obryi read like a Grimm's fairy tale mixed with some vintage Jules Verne.

The Obryi along with the Russno had been taken by Goa'ulds somewhere in the early middle ages around 500CE. This in itself was amazing as it had been thought that the two gates found on earth had both been lost or covered up. The one in Egypt from the time of the slave uprising and the one in Antarctica had been thought lost even before that. There had been other cultures that the SG teams had met over the years that were from later centuries than those two cultures. It was still a mystery that even Daniel and Sam had been unable to figure out.

The Russno had been intentional, the Obryi accidental in their abduction and reseeding on this planet. There were forgotten, lost to the records in some Goa'uld war among the system lords and left to develop on their own. It was not until Camazotz had stumbled on them had they become her victims. She had come looking for a new host, and found first a Russno which later was found to be immune to the Sarcophagus and thus unable to regenerate. The next host had been an Obryi; they had learned it had been Umbra's mother and Yurik's mate. This is how the Vampire Goa'uld had come to being, though Camazotz's hunger for blood and blood sacrifices had been already legend even among the other System Lords.

But what did all this mean to the SGC and Earth, little, other than the history and legends, there was little of value on the planet. The planet and its two species should be left in harmony. The Asgard has already been contacted and would place the planet under their protection. There was little for the threesome to do but collate their information and wait for SG1 to return, well, that and fall perhaps in love. Yurik had taken a fancy to CJ and his visits were frequent. He really didn't need to feed on her each night but CJ had welcomed it, the euphoria that occurred while Yurik feed on her compared to nothing she had known. There had been the love making too, the sex, but it was beyond physical needs it was a union of two so deep as to blend them into one. In her heart CJ dreaded the order to return home, but earth was no longer home, her heart was with Yurik.

The moons was rising and CJ sat under a tree look feeling the cool light upon her skin when she heard the familiar rustle of the head vampires apparel. She had developed a sixth sense and could almost smell him before he got to her.

"It is true they have rescued your silver haired champion?" Yurik asked sitting next to her as if the two were on a moonlight picnic, comfortable with each other, relaxed and if no one knew he was a vampire you would have thought him just another devastatingly handsome man.

"Yes, the message was cryptic but they have Colonel O'Neill." CJ sighed wondering as she looked at the night sky if the flag ship team of the SGC was passing above them even now.

"They will return soon?" the dejection not hidden in the vampire's melodious baritone.

"No, actually they are going to another planet to see the Nox. I will have to explain about them too, fairy folke with advanced technology." CJ laughed softly at her own analogy. She, herself, felt like she was part of some fantasy anymore, star gates, alien cultures, vampires, fairies, glowing snake eyed demons, all she needed were werewolves and unicorns to complete the picture and her insanity.

"Do not leave." Yurik said quietly as he plucked a piece of grass and played with it like some common farm boy.

He was not common, he was not basic, he was not human, but he was simple, pure in truth, heart and mind and CJ knew in her heart Yurik loved her. There was only one answer to give him, bitter sweet as it was.

"I'll resign my commission once SG1 is back."

"I love you." Yurik spoke but did not reach for CJ or even look at her just continued to stare at the twin moons.

"I love you too." CJ replied her eyes transfixed on the moons, the moons of her new home.

Kris Martin was going to crap herself when she got the news.

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5/7/2006 11:37 AM 3251 wc TBD Chapter 9

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	9. Chapter 9

10

CRIMSON MADNESS

CHAPTER NINE

General George Hammond sat at his desk staring blankly at the wall opposite him. He dreaded to turn his chair 180 degrees or he would be looking at the Star gate through his reinforced glass window. It was one of those times when he damned himself for not taking the retirement when he had had the chance. It was one of those times when he wished he could pull out the bottle of single malt Scotch in his bottom desk drawer and get shit faced. It was one of those times his felt his heart so heavy with concern for his friend and one of the finest officers he had ever served with, Jack O'Neill, that it would never be light again.

Hadn't he been here before, waiting out Jack's return and in what condition? The last time he had managed to arrive at Jack's home, climbed the ladder to Jack's roof and found the silver haired colonel about to eat a bullet from his sidearm. George knew it wasn't the first time that Jack had sucked on the blued metal of an automatic. Was this time going to be any different? They could rescue the body but could they rescue the mind? "_On course to the Nox, condition grim but stable,"_ had been the message from his old friend and Tokra, Jacob Carter.

The sound of the star gate engaging again brought him back to the other realities such as the return of SG12. He had a visitor from Langley due to arrive, an old friend and the CIA liaison, A.D.D. Vixen Blackwell. There were hundreds of personnel under his command who were his responsibility. It was Hammond's duty to see they all remained safe. He commanded the first line of defense against alien invasion. It was not boring, but was daunting. George sighed heavily and closed the bottom drawer of his desk with his knee.

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They were only two hours away from the Nox home world, even a Tokra had to rest and Jacob/Selmak had taken up a vigil next to Jack. He had drifted off for an hour or so of sleep when he was alerted by Jack's sudden movement.

"Jack, how you doing?" Jacob asked softly.

"Jacob." Jack managed to utter, forcing himself to focus.

"That's right; we're getting you to some help." Jacob patted Jack on the arm and pulled up the blanket over his chest, as if he was tucking in a sleeping son.

"No, Jacob, you shouldn't. I don't know if, this time, there is any coming back." Jack was dragging himself into lucidity. There were things that had to be said and he harvested what reserve of strength he could.

"Jack…" Jacob tried to reprimand in a consoling way.

"No, have to say it. Listen to me Jacob. I love her, I think from the first minute I met her, at least since Antarctica. "

Jacob was amazed at the sad smile that curled Jack's cracked and blood stained lips.

"I almost killed her, I wanted to. Jesus, Jacob! I would die for her. I can't tell her, she would never screw the regs. " One skeletal hand reached up from under the blanket and weakly clutched at Jacob's arm. "I could never tell, her, it would have, it has been killing me because I can't, and we can't." He was going to make his death bed confession to the father of second woman he loved in his life, and who was probably going to be his last.

"Jack, I know. We all know. I admire how you two have managed to restrain yourselves. "It was the voice of Selmak, then it returned to Jacob with a quick flash of glowing eyes. " I wish I had done the same years ago." Jacob had his own confession. His mind went back, back to a time. " Jack, she is about your age a little younger. She was a captain in intelligence. Smart as a whip and just as dangerous. It could have ruined both of us. She left the service when there was a flirting of rumors. I lost track of her, but Jack, our affair, no, I forced her out of the service. She told me she couldn't bear to be in the Air Force and not be able to be with me."

"Jacob, why are you telling me this?" Jack was keenly interested and amused, for these few moments he felt normal again.

"Because Jack, I loved her, I still do. If she is out there she thinks I'm dead, the cancer thing. But if I had it to do over again I would have never let her leave the service, I would have never let her go."

"Sam, did she, does she know?"

"I couldn't tell her, she would think I was dishonoring her mother's memory. So Jack even if you two can't while you are in the service, tell her how you feel. She deserves that much."

"You lost track of her?" Trying to divert the conversation away from what was a painful revelation Jack asked the question.

"You think it would be easy to find a 5'4'' woman named Vixen, but it isn't. " Jacob sighed with a soft laugh. He looked over at Jack and watched the man slip back into what appeared to be sleep. "We'll get your there soon, don't worry son."

Jack was slipping back into sleep, his energies expended with the conversation but his soul lighter with his confession. He was surprised at Jacob's reaction and revelation. It was too bad he couldn't tell Jacob that Vixen Blackwell was now with the CIA assigned to the OMA. It was even sadder that the petite spook had copies of all the mission files. She knew Jacob was alive, maybe that was why she had had a brief affair with Hammond. The woman liked bald generals and perhaps Hammond had just been a surrogate for the one she had walked away from. It was too oddly comforting that Jacob was a kindred spirit and that Sam's dad knew the pain that had been bayoneting his heart from that first look across a conference room table

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Refers to "Spooky" and earlier fiction.

Office of Military Affairs part of the CIA

The eight hours were at an end and Selmak placed the cargo vessel into synchronous orbit around the Nox home world. The communication from the Nox was simple, and direct. Lya was ringed to the vessel to discover the severity. She arrived with Ohper with her. The older wiser of the Nox had a child like quality to him and smiled in recognition of Daniel and Sam, his smile dwindled as he came to gaze of O'Neill. Ohper looked questioningly at Sam and Daniel.

"Lya, Ohper, Jack, has been hurt badly., One of our enemies had him, tortured him had poisoned him." Daniel began but he could not come up with more words just a lamenting plea for help."

Lya stepped to Jack and sensed the damage done to him and being done to him. She remembered this warrior and while the Nox were non violent they would not refuse a request for their help. She too looked at the other inquisitively.

At this moment Umbra stepped from the shadows. Still weak herself she was a counterpoise to the fairy wood nymph appearance of the two Nox. Lya drew back but Ohper, smiled a bright smile and walked towards the vampire.

"You are very different from these others, even the Tokra. You are not as dark as you think yourself sweet child." Ohper took both of Umbra's hands into his.

In that moment of contact Umbra felt a charge run through her, a pure sweet taste of joy and innocence seasoned with such wisdom that she felt humbled to silence.

"You could not heal him, but you kept this one , O'Neill alive with your very own life essence. " Ohper released one her hands and pointed at her like she was a child, but to him she was.

Lya , was eyeing Umbra with just the deepest of suspicion that a Nox could possess. She would accept the word of Ohper and she could sense he had no reluctance.

"She will come with us." Ohper patted Umbra's hand, and took it with the gentleness of a doting father. "We must go."

"But the sunlight , Umbra has to be away from it…" Daniel tried to explain.

Ohper shook his head the foliage within it making the soft rusting sound of a forest floor. "She will not come to harm."

Jacob/Selmak actually, had lifted Jack to his feet and had wrapped one arm around him. "We must go now. You must wait for our return." With the Sam touched the controls and the five were ringed elsewhere.

Nafrayu, the question asking boy was holding hands with Anteaus when the five arrived. They were before a simple forest hut with a comforting campfire burning. The smell of the smoke was more incense, sweet, calming and of the welcoming earth.

"I remember this one!" Anteaus commented not without a hint of annoyance.

"She is beautiful and strange, she is alive but not" Nafrayu commented taking Umbra's hand. He lead her to a near by fallen moss covered log. "I will make you better." Umbra had no time to comment or try to refrain the boy child before they both became invisible. Nafrayu knew he alone, with out the help of the others could help this woman of shadows. The others were need with their combined strength to help the one called O'Neill.

The Nox extended their hands over the supine body of O'Neill. Jack moaned in protest that was nothing more than an impotent gasp of what little breath he had left in his battered lungs. For a few moments the three were invisible but as they needed more of their strength they became visible.

Umbra could see this taking place from the corner of her eye, but she was more occupied with the young child who had taken her aside.

"The same sickness that is within the one called O'Neill, is within you. You tried to save him by sacrificing yourself. Very noble. You are a strange being. "

"I am of an old race that lived along side but never equal to the humans of the mother world. Many of us were taken away just as were the Rusno, those who were in my tribes neighbors. We came to this new planet and there both being strangers to this alien world the necessity came for a symbiotic relationship. The humans raised cattle and we fed from them instead preying upon them as once we did . My people require blood, fresh blood, to sustain us. In turn for the cattle which we took only as we needed , we protected the humans from dangers. " Umbra began the summation of her world. The boy had not asked but his simple comment that she was different caused her to defend her race.

"Something changed?" Nafrayu stroked her deep russet hair.

"The one who caused all of this, she stepped through the stone circle with her helmeted cohort. We offered our hand in peace, she took us, she took my mother and possessed her body. That is the creature that has lived for so many years and did all of this to the brave silver haired one. There was nothing left of the soul of what I knew as mother. She, this Camazotz, her aspect was nearly identical to that of the one call Samantha, the one that O'Neill doth love to his own death unspoken."

Nafrayu continued to stroke the vampires hair and hands. He smiled soft smile of the pure innocence of youth but it was so deceiving for his hundred years of age and wisdom in such a juvenile. Umbra felt her heart, that had bore for centuries itself , the loss of her mother, herself persecuted, devaluation for her inabilities to rescue her mother and what little she did for O'Neill, beat perhaps with the weight of a gentle sparrow, upon her rib walls. The poison from the Goa'uld was leaving her body dissipating like morning mist under a strong summer sun. Umbra grabbed the strange elfish boy and wept upon his moss covered shoulders, as the gentle healing a washed her .

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Anteaus, Lya and Opher were visible and drained from the healing of O'Neill. Restoring his life that one time when first these strangers had come through the gate had been easier. This time they were not dealing with something natural but the unnatural microscopic machines that still possessed O'Neill following commands for a dead Master. The body was healed but they could no nothing more for his psyche.

The two male Nox left the air, vanishing into the woods after a few steps. Lya, who had the most experience with the humans knelt exhausted next to O'Neill. She stroked his pale forehead cool and now feverless. The ravages of his abduction and subsequent torment still evident, but his blood was clear of the invaders.

"O'Neill.?' She asked softly her voice the chiming of blue bells in a meadow.

Jack managed to open his eyes. He could no longer feel the infestation that had possessed him, turned him into a creature that he would have gladly unloaded a clip into. Yet, he was free of the physical infection but it was the damage to his mind, his heart and soul that not even the Nox could heal.

"You know then O'Neill, we could only heal your body . I am afraid that you will have to recover here on your own." Lya touched Jack on his chest. He could feel the feather like weight of her finger tips on his sunken chest. "You must O'Neill we would not see you die from within.

"Lya, it would have been better if I died." Jack meant it.

"there is still too much for You to accomplish, O'Neill. There is love in your heart that even you do not know. You must heal, find a place where you will find peace and come once again to know yourself. " Lya smiled and as gentle as a breeze she helped Jack sit up. "We will let the one you call Janet come for you now."

A moment later the thunder small combat boots grew closer. Janet, alone, with a bundle under her arm and medical bag at the ready nearly pounced on him.

"You should have let me …." Jack began looking into Janet's deep brown eyes.

"We don't leave anyone behind." Janet told him with a soft commanding voice. Lya smiled in approval of the softly spoken words.

"Please Doc, just some clothes." Jack realized he was just wearing the loin cloth like garment from Camazotz's castle.

Janet knew better than to say anything more. She had seen him through times as rough as this, well maybe not, but she had seen him naked more than her first husband. There was no more sense of propriety between the two. She helped Jack into a pair of blue class d pants, he was going commando of course. And then a matching shirt. The clothes hung off him. The Nox may have been able to heal him but they could not restore the 30 pounds he had lost and the muscle that had been devoured once the body fat had been depleted.

There was no refusal for her assistance when Janet wrapped an arm around his waist. Jack needed to sleep, he needed to be away from everyone also. He had to be alone with himself. Lya was right he could not let himself die from within.

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Rather than Jacob transporting them back via the Goa'uld vessel the Nox allowed SG1 and Janet to transport back to the SGC. Jacob headed back to the planet that had been Camazotz's home base to assist Teal'c and the SG3 . While it was the top priority to get Jack back for full medical recovery, there were three members of the original rescue party that seemed to have been forgotten on P3x666.

Janet immediately rushed Jack to the infirmary leaving Sam and Daniel to debrief Hammond. They gave him the quick summary and then were ordered to the infirmary themselves. Umbra was silent but in awe at the wonders that was the SGC. She had no worries of being affected by strong daylight this deep within the mountain.

Jack had been placed in isolation in one of the VIP quarters. Janet was his friend as well as his physician and she had been through this with him before. Well, perhaps not as seriously as this time. Everything she had read in his medical file still paled to this latest assault. She feared more for his mental status then his physical, the Nox had been unable to heal him completely for removing the Nanocytes had been more difficult than had been bringing Jack back to life on that first contact.

Once everyone was settled in Sam, Daniel and Umbra filled Hammond in on virtually every moment of the rescue mission. Hammond, to his credit, remained stoic through the lengthy debriefing. Umbra was given guest quarters and Sam and Daniel were ordered rest. They all needed a few hours of silence, peace, recovery now that Jack was home.. Daniel joined Umbra in her quarters and allowed her to feed. They made love and then both slept in the secure embrace of the other.

It was not what he had been looking forward to but George Hammond knocked on the door of Jack's temporary quarters. Jack was sitting in a corner of the dark room, arms across his knees, head down. Hammond's second in command looked up with eyes that were dull with internal agony..

"What do you need Jack? Anything son, anything?" Hammond sat down on the empty bed.

"George, I can't be here, or home." Jack scrubbed his eyes with the back of his palms.

"No problem son. We'll figure this out. "

Jack tried to smile, somehow through all of this, stepping back on the ramp of the SGC he had formed his plan. He sighed and began to relay it to his friend and commanding officer. In the early hours of the morning when only a skeleton crew was present the gate was opened and a message sent through the answer came back in the shape of a wolf.

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	10. Chapter 10

10

CRIMSON MADNESS

CHAPTER TEN

Jack and Hammond approached the black and gray wolf slowly and waited at the foot of the ramp. The wolf stood on its' hind legs and then transformed into a silver glad blond haired alien woman. They had met before, Takiya of the planet that had a population of Salish Indians, originally Native Americans who had been transported to the planet by Goa'uld . Takiya was one of many aliens who lived harmoniously with the transplanted Salish and until SG1 had visited the planet had taken the shape of the tribes religious entities. Takiya had come to trust Jack .

"We are honored that You would respond to our message." Hammond smiled and offered a hand to her arm but the woman with the breathing gills horizontal on her face just cocked her head to one side not understanding the polite gesture.

"You are unwell Jack of the Star gate?" she questioned, her attention had immediately been drawn to the emaciated man. Though last time she had seen the man he was wearing a sling from Tonani's trinium arrow, he had appeared healthy even vibrant. This was not the shadow of a man who stood before her. Even dressed for a mission, full weapons and pack. Heappeared even more wan against the contrast of the livery of a warrior.

"The Colonel has been recently undergone some injuries in the course of his duty. He is in need of recovery time and requests to be allowed to visit your planet." Hammond narrated for Jack.

"Can your medical facilities not heal him? " She asked in a neutral tone, there was nothing accusative in the tone.

"It's not all physical." Jack half whispered, there was still no strength in his voice." I need to be away."

Takiya saw it in the face, the hang of the head. Her species had come to understand the emotions and fragility of this human species. "Tonani will be pleased to see the one called Jack again." With that she began to turn towards the gate and Jack stepped up with her.

"Jack, here." Hammond handed Jack a handheld device to use to provide his IDC. " If you need anything son…"

Jack shook his head in understanding and pulled on his black baseball cap. Under the once comforting and familiar weight of his gear he nearly stumbled ash he followed Takiya who was once again in the shape of a wolf.

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Daniel and Sam met outside of the conference room, Daniel with his mug of office already half gone. Both looked better from the long rest but their wounds were still obvious, even the one to their hearts concerned with Jack. To their surprise Janet Fraisier was also headed in the same direction. She was in a hurry, head down in concentration. The two members of the SG1 were but a step behind her. General Hammond was already seated at he head of the table. While the man usually had the poker face of Mississippi Riverboat gambler there was a current of muddy emotions stirring up a whirlpool behind his blue eyes.

"Be seated." Hammond said in acknowledgement of the three and continued to stare into his own mug of coffee.

"General?" Sam began to question but was immediately stopped by a raised hand.

"Colonel O'Neill has been given leave to recover. Folks you know as well as I did what and how he was affected the first time he came into the hands of Camazotz. This time without the intercession of the Nox Jack would either be dead or have continued to be infected and possibly turned into… well, whatever."

"Where is he sir?" Janet demanded, " I need to supervise his recovery. The Nox freed him of the nanocytes but even they couldn't heal all of his wounds. "

"Jack has requested time off planet. He has also asked me to keep his location secret even to you. People he needs your support right now and the best way to do that is to leave him alone. He is damaged and only he can find a way to fix himself. There is nothing for you to do Dr. Fraiser, nothing that either of you to can do Major Carter, Dr. Jackson. Until his return SG1 is on stand down. You two are free to work with other teams and or on research projects. Teal'c has contacted us and it will be a few more days before he has the issues resolved. SG3 will return also." Hammond did not give them a chance to interject.

"What about C.J , Captain Nave and Sergeant Blaney they are still back at Px8666?'" Daniel turned the topic away from Jack. " And Umbra we have to take her back there, back home."

"Dr. Jackson you have a go. Bring those three back, I think they have interacted sufficiently with the indigenous personnel." There was a tint of annoyance to the tone of the two star general. Partially it was annoyance with himself, he had nearly forgotten about that little trio.

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Takiya walked along with Jack leading him gently toward the village. She could feel the pain with each step, how his body seem to want to just stop, not for a rest but to stop. Stepping out of the woods she heard the familiar sound of a crow caw. Zayles was present to investigate the arrival of the off worlder. The village was already bustling with activity. Smoke rose from lodges and children played and parents and elders laughed at their innocence She drank it in like water from a clear mountain stream. Jack slowed his step and stood for long moments, the fresh air, the lushness of his surrounds seemed to breath a fresh life into him. There was hope for him the wolf thought as she turned back to the woods. The crow, Zayles, took flight and joined her in the mist between trees.

The children saw the strange man, some had not seen his likes before, or since that first time, some remembered how strangers like him had made the mountains shake and the spirits angry. But as children are they ran to tell their elders wanting to alert as well as get permission to inspect the stranger.

Tonani came out of the main lodge followed by three elders. His face lit up when he saw that it Jack. His heart dropped to see the state that Jack was in. The two met up.

"Jack, you look bad." Tonani said with a sad smile and placed a gentle hand on Jack's shoulder.

"Good to see ya too." The smile was forced, pained.

"What are you doing here Jack? Alone too? "

It was almost impossible to admit but the words came over his lips in a frustrated hiss. "I need…" Jack couldn't finish his sentence, instead he just looked into Tonani's eyes almost blankly and shrugged his shoulders.

"Well let's go talk to the elders, maybe we can help you. " Tonani turned back towards the main meeting house. Once inside the elders greeted Jack cordially but whispered among themselves.

A small boy was seated one of the elders playing with a trinket of pure trillium, a sculpture of a what seemed a horse. The boy eyed Jack and crawled off the elders lap. He was perhaps six or seven years old. His black hair was unbraided and somewhat disheveled and he wore only a loin cloth. Approaching Jack he looked up at the strange pale skinned man and into the deep brown eyes. He took Jack's right hand into his little left one and after a few breaths he turned back tot the elders. The words that came from the child's mouth were simple and in his native tongue.

The words seemed to ripple through the elders. They looked at each other nodding and speaking in hushed tones. Jack didn't care , he was so far beyond caring. Tonani, however, understood the words but waited respectfully for the elders to speak.

"The thE

The boy says your heart / your spirit is broken. We will help you. We must make some preparations. Jack we will help you." The eldest of the elders said he punctuated his pronouncement with a sad smile.

The boy, still holding onto Jack's hand, began to drag him from the meeting house.

"It's okay Jack, go with him. We have some things to get ready. I will come get you. The boy knows what you need right now. "

Jack O'Neill, always had a weak spot for kids, but at this very moment he thought of a bible passage "The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a child will lead them. (Isaiah 11:1-2, 6 NIV). Odd at this time that he would think of God, for he believed that God had forsaken him, perhaps, it was the other way around. Interesting for a man who had hope to think about God.

The boy urged Jack along and soon other children began to gather and they were laughing and encouraging him to hurry. They took him away from the village and over the crest of a hill. They stopped and stood quietly but all pointed to the valley below. Jack didn't believe what he was seeing, a sight that he had never thought would be his to view. The immensity of it, the purity of it impacted him and he fell to his bad knees and slumped back. The children seemed to arrange him in a comfortable sitting position. The older ones, perhaps ten and twelve years of age began to remove his gear. Jack did not fight but continued to stare into the valley. Before him moving like a multicolored wave was a herd of horses, it seemed like thousands.

The smallest of the children, a little girl maybe three years old, crawled into Jack's lap and rested her head against his shoulder as her tiny arm slipped around his neck. Her other hand touched his chest, it rested over the scar of his self inflicted wound. The warm of her hand, the feel of a child and the unconditional love that was being offered was like an endorphin rush to the silver warrior. He felt his breathing was easier, deeper and meant something, meant that he was still alive, perhaps even had strength to continue. The children all sat with him, all watching the herd of horses enthralled at the movements and sounds transfixed as if watching a theatrical production. "better than a drive in" Jack thought with his dry humor but the words never escaped his lips, just a absurdity in his twisted mind. They group sat for some time, Jack didn't know how long nor did he care, the interruption was Tonani 's arrival.

"Jack, you like our horses?" Tonani asked but expected no answer. He received only a nod.

"I need to take Jack with me now." Tonani continued the children took the hint and scrambled off Jack's lap or over his shoulders and ran off laughing as a small mob carrying his equipment, and gear with them. .

"The elders agree to help you Jack. Takiya asked that we help too. You got good references Jack. " Tonani's humor was lost on him. " Ever been in a sweat lodge?"

"Sauna." Jack stepped even with Tonani as they walked back towards the village.

The sweat lodge had an ante chamber, two of the elders waited for Jack there. He allowed them to undress him. The only weapon that he had left was the black bladed commando knife strapped to his right thigh. One of the elders took it out and examined it carefully. The elder knew that they could do better and stronger with the Kee that the spirits gave them from the mountain, the very same metal that these strangers had wanted so badly before. But it was a good knife and the weapon of a warrior.

Once he was naked Jack was handed a loin cloth and in the same fashion as Tonani, he put it on.

"So what's a sauna Jack?" Tonani was carefully trying to bring his friend out of his shell. The wise Saliesh knew that he had to proceed very carefully. The wounds Jack had were not merely physical.

"Kinda of the same thing with towels, and more fat men with hairy backs." Jack replied starting to feel some humor returning. This place, this world was so pastoral and so far removed from the SGC and any Goa'uld he was feeling almost safe.

The elders led him into the chamber and sat him down between them. Jack let himself enjoy the feeling, the moist heat easing pains in his body he had forgotten about. Closing his eyes he tried to shut out the sounds of the world and just listen to his heart beat.

Tonani and the elders surveyed Jack's body. The Nox had managed to free Jack of the nanocytes and restore him but not completely. The wounds to his neck and the self inflicted attempt to kill himself was still very red and fresh.   
it seemed in the dim light of the lodge and through the steam that every wound that Jack had ever received was exposed, even from his most early childhood.. It was the spirits that gave the elders the vision. Their world had been a peaceful one, there were no wars or rival tribes stealing their horses and women. This world was indeed a utopia but only because of Takiya and the other protecting spirits.

Speaking softly in their native tongue, the elders discussed what they would do with Jack to bring him back to health. They would feed him, let him rest, then there would be one more meeting in the sweat lodge before they would send him on a dream ride. They realized that this silver haired warrior had been so defeated that he had lost himself. Only a spirit ride would he find himself, he would ride till he met with himself again.

Within an hour Jack was too exhausted to continue. Tonani took lead him to a lodge , it was Tonani's for now Jack would have a roommate, one that would look out for him, talk to him, explain, answer questions or just sit quietly. For the rest of this day and night Tonani would sit and watch Jack sleep. There were demon's in the dreams and Tonani watched as wounded man fought with each one, sometimes not winning. It was difficult for him to understand this, his world was so peaceful. He had never seen anyone so heart sick. After Jack had settled into what seemed a deep healing sleep Tonani left him for food.

The boy who had taken Jack by the had and lead him to see the herd saw Tonani and ran to him and leapt up into his arms.

"The stranger?" He asked.

"He is called Jack, he comes from the other side of the Standing water."

The boy's eyes grew wide, but he became thoughtful again. " His heart is broken so, evil did this to him. Why did the spirits not help him"

"He was not here for them to protect him. Neka, you ask so many wise questions. You truly will be a shaman when you get older."

"Are the spirits going to help Jack now, Tonani?"

"We will help him get better, first we let him rest, sleep, eat our good food and breath our air, then Neka once his body is healed he will have to heal his soul. This he must do by himself."

"Can he not do that on the side of the standing water he came from?" the boy continued to ask.

"No, he came here for help. His world is very complicated and has lost touch with their spirits not like we have here." Tonani let the boy down. "Go see your mother tell her I am coming over for dinner."

Tonani watched the boy run off, he tried not to let his heart get heavy for Jack but it was difficult. He had never seen such pain before.

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Sergeant Blaney was the first to hear the star gate engage and the familiar swoosh that accompanied the as Colonel O'Neill put it, the flushing sideways. He immediately radioed Captain Nave and they agreed to meet up at the gate. It was not something that they both were looking forward to. As much as they had developed a relationship with both the Russno and the Obryi it was the one with the Vampires that had become so dynamic. CJ was smitten with Yurik and he was doing everything he could to persuade her to become his mate. This left Nave and Blaney thinking Angel and Buffy the Vampire slayer thoughts even though they had both had their liaison with two rather delectable female vampires. All of this was going to very hard to explain to Hammond.

It was Hammond who walked through the gate first. Behind him was Daniel, Sam and Umbra.

"Oh crap." Nave muttered and then brought himself to a full attention, his right arm saluting the General. Blaney was a mirror image.

"We are going to have to do some talking." Hammond continued to walk right past them, Umbra now at his side taking over the role of guide.

The vampire felt the touch of her home land beneath her feet and though barely a blade of grass was bent under her step each step was restorative. The evening sky was still only striped with crimson and the sun was well below the horizon. She sensed the arrival of her Father and the human nurse before the others. There was much she had to confess to her father and her people.

"We will accommodate all of you in our assembly hall, the elders of the Rusno will be called for and will be able to join us shortly. " Yurik waved an arm towards the deep woods which hid their underground home.

Hammond was not thrilled and the look he sent in CJ's direction was enough to turn her into a pillar of salt. Once she would have hung her head knowing the admonishment was coming but she had already decided to resign her commission. She was in love with Yurik and it just wouldn't do to go back to the SGC pregnant with a vampires child. That announcement was going to be like landing a 500 pounder in Hammond's lap. It was going to be interesting to have a step daughter a couple of hundred years old.

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